This interactive exhibit is meant to inspire creativity and exemplify our individual perceptions.

Art making to me, is about the process, abandoning oneself to it. As I create each cigar box, fantasies play out in my mind as the objects are placed, memories of where I found each object conjure up. The dioramas become stories.

I have always enjoyed the waft of cigar smoke. The scent evokes pause in an otherwise chaotic pace. Time slows. Deep conversation flows. It reminds me of men formative to my life, of distant and exotic places, and maritime tradition.

With childlike wonder, I travel. Along the way, I collect and forage unique objects. Shells from a remote shoreline, stones from ancient paths, flea market baubles, moss fallen from high branches. My art studio is an apothecary of findings.

Travel destinations always find me ducking into the cigar shop. Aficionados never fail to be excellent guides. I scour through empty cigar boxes which are gladly given away to me. It is a personal tradition for me to buy cigars that I share with friends once I return while regaling the tales of life’s adventures.

I invite the viewer to utilize their own innate creativity through creative writing, to select a box that calls to them, letting words express individual perception of the diorama: a short story, a Haiku, a poem…anything that comes into the imagination.