HS: Similarly, what was the first piece that made you begin to question technique?

TS: A little later when I was ten years old I got to see a retrospective exhibition of the work of Salvador Dali in New York City that my parents had taken my sister and I to. Although not able to fully comprehend what I was looking at, I think it was then that I became aware of out of this world technique and the sheer power a painting could have over the beholder.

HS: What’s it like to transform your characters from forms on canvas to toys?

TS: It’s always a thrill to see your two dimensional art turned into an actual object and I’m hoping to transform some of my upcoming work into giant scaled sculptures in the not too distant future.

HS: What have you learned about audience as an exhibiting artist?

TS: It’s basically a very mixed audience. The smallest segment of my audience would be the dedicated true patron that sticks with you through thick and thin regardless of fashions and passing trends. An artist is lucky if they manage to have only a few of this type of collector over the life of their career. I’ve been exhibiting now for over 25 years and consider myself very fortunate in this regard. The rest of my audience ranges from speculators looking to turn a profit on a recently acquired piece to people of all social and economic strata who simply have an appetite for imaginative thought provoking visuals.

HS: I live in Philadelphia, so I am interested in your account of life there as a student? What did you find in the city, and how did the place play a role in your education?

TS: Prior to living in Philadelphia I had lived in suburban New Jersey, so just being in a city was a thrill. At the time I attended college there ( Philadelphia College of Art ) in the early 1970’s, Philadelphia was a pretty run down city but I found that to be very appealing in an oddly romantic way. There used to be an old burlesque house on, I think it was Arch street, and these great old store display houses on the verge of going under nearby. There were pockets of all kinds of odd neighborhoods and stores like the voodoo store on South Street complete with mummified monkeys in the window. All that’s gone now. The Mutters Museum! Could you ask for any more mind blowing material than what that institution has stored away in it’s collections? This was before the “official” museum for tourists was put into effect. I have many great memories of Philly, not the least of which was meeting what would be my future wife Kathy who was born and raised there.