Duration: Four years plus/minus.

Staff: Me. Recently, my production lead Patrick Reynolds, a great collaborator. Even more recently, my rep Lori Watson.

Education: BA, French it (Wayne State, Detroit); MA, composition and rhetoric (DePaul); MFA, creative writing (School of the Art Institute Chicago); photography, self-taught.

Cultural Influences: David Lynch, Michelangelo Antonioni, Caravaggio, Goya, Dutch Masters, Paul Delvaux, Gregory Crewdson, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Transcendental Meditation, Jan Saudek, Bill Brandt, Nadav Kander, Karl Lagerfeld, Julius Shulman, trade magazines, Home Depot.

Environment: I have a 3,000-square-foot studio in an old industrial building. It's really more of a workshop, full of tools and wood and stage decks and industrial shelving, generators, sand, gravel, soil, tree stumps, bales of hay—basically everything that people I know throw away. I drive a lot of alleys. I'll take just about anything. We've got a nice little place to visit in the back; it's half a living room from some theater's garage sale.

Philosophy: It's a hodge-podge. I didn't plan on being here, but here I am and I’m thrilled about it. I love my career. The path was certainly circuitous, and I'm sure I draw on all that experience. Mostly, I try to be courageous about what I'm making. And I try to listen. The work is big and expensive and requires a lot of people. It's an orchestration, which I positively relish. I used to spend all day, everyday, alone and writing. Don’t know how I thought that was me. It’s not me. I am part of a large community of artists, all making different work, but sharing in the experience. I strive to do it maturely. I ask for a lot of help. Often.