My recent return to Iowa was, psychologically the first since my departure to Philadelphia and Curtis in 1958. We might consider Davenport and Iowa City as a piece, especially since the distance between the two is little more than “a commute” in the rest of the world. Two products, in print of my return have been: 1) my writing the Forward to Tomas Lasansky's book Icons and Muses; and 2) an article published in the Quad-City Times (read it here) on my Art in Stone.

Tomas Lasansky has been a friend for 25 years. In the 1980s, when he had his studio in the First National Bank building, my brother Tom and I began buying his work. I have followed his artistic progress ever since. I reconnected with Tomas when one of my residential mentoring students, Adam Rake moved to Iowa City and began working with and for Tomas in 2005. As Tomas was working on his book, he invited me to write the forward, which I was delighted to do. This book is remarkable on several levels – it is a rich and detailed record of Tomas' work during the past three decades; the quality of the photography and color reproduction of his pieces is superb. I truly appreciate having been a part, however small of this work. My Forward provides a glimpse into my sense of Tomas' work as well as an indication of my own aesthetic sensibilities.