The family manufacturing business was destroyed by a fire while Darren was attending college. He chose to drop out and return home to help rebuild. Two important events occurred as a result; Darren was given the opportunity to learn and explore the creation process of the machine tool industry and he met Will Wright who would become an incredible mentor. Will had developed vast skills and knowledge over the years and spent his time on projects anywhere from souping up Model T’s to pieces that would be acquired by the Illinois State Museum. He was eager to share his knowledge with Darren as they worked together to rebuild the business to full functionality. They remain dear friends, and at 105 years old, Will is an inspiration, source of wisdom and plain good companion.

Darren’s sister received her BFA in pottery and Darren found great pleasure in assisting her in the development of the production process of her work. She regularly participated in juried art/craft shows while pursuing her pottery career. She sensed something her in her brother and suggested he try his hand at sculpture. Being an obedient brother, he did. While Darren did not sell anything at his first show, a spark was struck.
After ten years of testing the waters by participating in a few juried shows a year he developed his style and aesthetic. Much time, energy and capital had been invested with little to no payoff. Darren’s relevance to the world was left to be proven. If one is to make a living as an artist, a patron must materialize in some shape or form. He struggled to find an audience eager for his artwork and with the manufacturing business diminished to unsustainable levels he found himself at the point of having to decide whether to leave it all behind or not. He traveled to what he believed might be his final show and unexpectedly found his audience. A sell-out show was the undeniable proof Darren had been waiting for. There was now evidence that an audience did in fact exist and presented a purpose to express his artistic vision.

The ability to create tools led Darren to the development of a large cache of custom tools which enable him to create his work. Early in his career he was introduced to Paul Klee and developed his oeuvre into the manifestation of a process similar to the inclusion in Klees’ work of creatures that might exist if natural selection happened to move that way. Darren’s process has engendered the ability to produce biomorphic objects which look as though they could exist, somewhere in the realm of Art Nouveau and Gestural Abstract Expressionism. He describes his work as “lines relationship to line, moving through the implied volumes of form, shaping space, thereby creating an object”. Darren’s work evolved into kinetic sculpture as the manifestation of this process interacted with the audience.

Darren is an autodidact with no formal art school training but a massive library. His background as a machinist/metal fabricator, pen and ink artist, avid windsurfer and hobby fiddler are invaluable tools which have created a unique skill set that has engendered the ability to improvise in the intractable medium of metal, and, ensured that the large pieces which have been installed outdoors for many years have proven to be durable through tornado and hurricane.
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