At the Phoenix Rock Gym just right of the Karabin Climbing museum is a 14’ wall corner that I painted white and for six months contemplated what kind of art piece I wanted to paint on the wall. The corner is at a odd angle so trying to place a ladder in that area was not too easy, and also hanging off of a rope and painting for 100+ hours was not working out as well. So I came up with the idea to paint the art piece on 2’ x 2’ working boards and then screw all of the boards to the wall. Overall the art piece required 14 boards and I created and painted the design and wood character cutouts at my house. It took a few months to create and finally in February 2020 the piece was completed and installed. At first I had no idea on what to create, but suddenly I was inspired to create this masterpiece centering on what personally inspires me to be a rock climber. I named it “Climbing Spirit.” 14’ x 4’ acrylic paint on 1/4” work boards with climbing gear and select rock pieces. This is the first art piece that I used this wood medium for, and I knew already that I was onto something that was sparking my art curiosity within. I call this form of art, “Spirit Boards.”

Climbing Spirit
Photo: Jaime Gangi
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The second Spirit Board I created is named “Fire Hair Climber” and I was envisioning a multi-layered climbing wall that the climber was climbing upward on climbing volumes. The idea was to have the climber hanging on a overhang so depending on where the light source is shining upon the art piece, the art piece remains three dimensional and will change as the viewer looks at it from different angles. Completed March 2020, acrylic paint on 1/4” work boards. 2’ x 2’

Fire Hair
Climber
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The third Spirit Board I created is inspired by the artist Andy Warhol. The idea is to create the art piece as simple as possible showing the subject “climber and mountain,” and creating it with a third dimension character. Depending on how the light is shown upon the piece the art changes as the viewer looks at it from different angles. For this piece I allowed myself to not be in control of the final outcome by allowing my friends to tweak the design and come up with the final color combinations. Thank you Jeremy and Stephanie! This piece I named “Climber and Mountain” and it came out fantastic! Completed May 2020, acrylic paint on 1/4" work boards. 28” x 20”
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Climber
and
Mountain
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Chimney Art

For my fourth spirit board I really wanted to step out of the box so I came up with a idea of having a climber in a chimney doing a cool move, and to top that off I wanted the chimney to light up. The ideas kept flowing adding colored gemstones to the inner part of the chimney, and instead of the box that formed the chimney being solid, I cut out around 100 wood squares to give it a ribbed look on the edge. The toughest part of the project was to somehow be able to remove the climbing character, in case the LED lights eventually burned out. Also creating a way that the electrical cord 
and plug could be stored within the art piece in case the art project went onto the wall without the cord always hanging down. The art piece really came out fantastic! I worked on the project on and off over a five month time completing it November 28, 2020. Overall 350 hours and measures 20" wide x 24" tall.​
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​Illuminated Saguaros

I really enjoyed creating this art piece since it required a fair amount of preplanning to create the layering of the saguaro cactus’s. I wanted the chosen colors to stand out and compliment each other. And then as a added bonus…  to have the art piece light up!!!! Adding the LED lights was quite a challenge since the light strip is to follow the curves of the Saguaro, and the light strips are manufactured more to go in a straight line. The Saguaro art piece was designed so that the light cord can be stored and hidden in the back of the art piece in case the person who views it does not want the light cord to be continually 
hanging down on the wall. A remote controller is used to turn on and off the lights or to dim them, and the remote controller creatively stores in a hidden compartment at the base of the center saguaro. After installing the needles onto the center Saguaro I sat back and could not believe how awesome this completed art piece turned out. Its really amazing!!! I named this masterpiece, “Illuminated Saguaros.” Completed 5/31/2021. Measures 14 3/4” wide x 20 3/4” tall. 1/4” work boards, acrylic paint, LED light system. Overall time to create the art piece, 230+ hours.