I was born in Owatonna, Minnesota, in 1951.

My family had no artistic background. My parents were from a rural, agricultural background. I grew up in small Minnesota working class towns. What little I knew about art was gleaned from popular culture (comic books, comic strips, movies, television, commercial illustration) and a minimal exposure to 20th century fine art. My grade school had an itinerant art teacher who stopped by to instruct small groups occasionally. In spite of this I developed a taste and love for drawing.

By the age of 13 I had decided to become an artist. I started by learning the craft of cartooning. At the same time my first oil painting (1964) was based on the 'magic squares' paintings of Paul Klee. By the age of 16 I was torn between commercial and fine art, not to mention the irresistible force of 1960s popular culture which served to further complicate matters.

In 1973 I had tired of college after two years and had moved on in an attempt to create art on my own. In 1976 I met my future wife Nancy who introduced me to photography. From then on photography assumed a level of importance in my life equal to that of my other visual arts. At about the same time I became interested once again in comics and cartooning and for a brief time worked in that field. Soon after I acquired an education in commercial art and became an art director for a magazine publisher, a position I held for almost 20 years.