David's biography

director, Big Picture Alliance

I come from New Jersey. It's taken a long time to get to a place were I can own that fact as something that has formed my vision of the world and not as something that I look upon bitterly. I lived in Union. From the Garden State Parkway, you can see the World's Tallest Watersphere as you pass my home town. The World's Tallest Watersphere has become, for me, the primary symbol of that town; a sort of memorial to a place that I once distained but can now take pleasure in seeing as simply misguided and rediculous. I'm currently amused at the fact that spellcheck does not even recognize the word "watersphere" which leads me to believe that it's not even a real thing, thus making my point that much truer. People in Union do not talk of the Worlds Tallest Watersphere. Somehow a thing like this is overlooked. I find that kind of odd but enjoyable.
I studied fine art for many years, beginning as a painter and working through many mediums until I landed where I am today, primarily casting rubber sculptures and working with video. Now I see myself as a "Philadelphia artist" and i think that is a great thing. It's easy to be down about this city if you don't really give it a chance. What it lacks on the surface, it makes up in so many different ways that deserve to be recognized.
My last professional job, before working for the Big Picture Aliance, was as a product designer for a company that designs and manufactures Krazy Straws. I was the lead sculptor and designed many of the Krazy Straw drink containers that you can find in Walmart and dollar stores, i.e. the Sippy Snowman, the Sippy Skull, the Tropical Fish drink container, etc. I mention this mostly because it is a fun fact that tends to amuse people but also because the sheer absurdity of sculpting these things everyday has certainly taken it's toll on who I am today, much like the "World's Tallest Watersphere" has.
I'm excited and honored to be working on this Zoe Strauss documentary project. It is difficult to decide whether this project is much less absurd than designing Krazy Straw drinkware. I go back and forth on my opinion on that. "How does one make a documentary about foster kids making a documentary about Zoe Strauss?" This is the question that I ask myself every day. Fortunately, I think I have some answers to that and the process has been even more rewarding than i could have imagined.
When this project is over and my eating and sleeping routine becomes more normal again, I will resume my other, far less absurd project, an experimental Civil War film co-starring a rubber squid-like puppet.