About Caris

Making has never been just one thing.

I’ve moved through photography, filmworking, cheffing, winemaking, and many art forms, from low craft to fine art.

Each practice changed how I saw the next. The materials shifted; the curiosity stayed: what gives a thing its life, what do I find important to share, and how can I best do that?

What has motivated me all along is the intense internal motivation to master a form.

These photos show one way this motivation evidenced as a child and moved through to adulthood. From a stick horse, to a sawhorse, to a real horse, to advanced riding, showing, and teaching horsemanship.... this path was ultimately about that undeniable connection to the deep love that lives within each of us, and how that expresses in a life.

Observe

In the studio, where clear observation turns into the best making:

I begin by paying attention: to a gesture, the line of a form, a change in light, or something ordinary that holds a little mystery. The first task is to see what is actually there.

Study

Every frame is a decision:

Working behind the camera and in visual effects taught me to notice the small things that carry a story: a gesture, a pause, a shift in light.

Film made me attentive to the process before the finished image—the choices, experiments, and collaboration that bring a moment into focus.

My film career spanned 25 years.
I started in still photography, motion picture editing, post-production sound, production sound, and then finally into motion picture camera, where I climbed the ladder rung by rung.

I was behind the camera for many 60-Minutes segments, NFL Films special projects, various feature films, music videos, commercials, documentaries, industrial films, and then films at Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects production company.

On WISHBONE, I worked as the Visual Effects Supervisor and Second-unit Director and Cinematographer, which is also where I won my Emmy®.
I was post-production supervisor and visual effects supervisor for a few BARNEY episodes and special projects.

During WISHBONE, I started making amateur wines as a hobby, and went back to school to learn commercial winemaking. When WISHBONE was over, and had no chance of coming back, I chose to move into a new industry: WINE.

I don't like to talk about Howard the Duck, but if you buy me a beer, I might.

Try

Time and material have their own ideas:

In my twenty years of LightCatcher Winery, I learned to work with a process that could not be hurried: growing, fermenting, tasting, adjusting.

I was owner, winemaker, chef, and manager, moving between the vineyard, cellar, kitchen, and table.

That world deepened my respect for what happens before a finished thing appears, and for the surprises that come when you stay curious, and determined, through the process.

Adjust

One question opens into another:

In all the mediums, I try an idea, study what happens, and make the choices about what to do next.

A change in angle, pressure, color, or emphasis can reveal a direction I could not have planned in advance.

Begin again

Today, sculpture, ceramics, photography, painting and digital flat art, writing, and cooking all belong to the same conversation.

I move among them, letting one practice teach me about another.

In the studio, the process is observation, study, trial, adjustment, discoveries, and, sometimes, just starting over.

This gives great joy in discovery of what I call

- The Secrets of the Maker -

This will, no doubt, keep me busy for awhile.

Many forms, one ongoing practice.

The Work Itself

Sculpture · Flat Art · Ceramics

Photography · Kitchen · Writing

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