Select Visual Work

Training for Freedom – Producer, Sound Designer

Idealistic college students and Black activists came together in Oxford, Ohio, in 1964 to find their humanity and the common ground to fight as one. This documentary weaves their stories with critical historical analysis. It explores how people from dramatically different worlds broke down barriers of race, class and gender to organize the most comprehensive campaign of the civil rights movement.

• National PBS distribution through American Public Television

• Dozens of community and film festival screenings

• Nominated for a Public Media Award by NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association) in the category of Independent Production

• Best Documentary, Chagrin Falls Documentary Film Festival

• Best of Show, Broadcast Education Association On-Location Conference (2021)

Slice of Pie: A Love Story – Sound Designer

Erin and Robert reside in Norwood, Ohio and are the proprietors of the restaurant Moriah’s Pie. Operating on “The Lord Will Provide” payment system, the couple do not charge a set fee for their delicious neighborhood-grown and locally sourced pizza. On Friday evenings, the only time the restaurant is open, people from all walks of life come to the restaurant and, at the end of their meal, are given a cloth envelope in which to place their offering. The neighborhood children come weekly, dollar in hand, to enjoy a soup or salad, pizza, and a dessert. The film follows this extremely humble couple as they tended to their many gardens cultivated on vacant land throughout Norwood and observed them as they prepared to offer their food to others. Moriah Pie, their pizza restaurant, serves as the metaphor for how they live a life of testing, risking love, and learning about each other. People will leave feeling restored and perhaps reflect a bit on their personal relationships and how they might take risks to improve the lives of others and accept their neighbors, just the way they are.

• Over The Rhine Film Festival - Cincinnati, OH (July 2023)

• Commffest Global Community Film Festival (2022)

• A Show For A Change Film Festival (2022)

• Docs Without Borders Film Festival (2022)

• Down East Flick Fest (2022)

• International Herb Symposium Festival (2022)

• Toronto International Film Awards Inc. (2022)

• The Global Peace Film Festival (2022)

• Lilly Fellows Program Arlin G. Meyer Prize (2019)

Fall Apart – Creative Director, Producer

For the "Fall Apart" music video, I teamed up with my good friend, Tom Beuerlein of Flaming Medusa Animation, to create a music-less desert where our main character could fall apart. "Fall Apart" is about an artist chasing his dream. He's so mentally and emotionally drained from his quest that he haphazardly meets his demise. Unbeknownst to him, he was already living his dream, but money and some magical oasis distracted him from his accomplishments. Ultimately, the validation and legacy he was hoping to find lived inside him the whole time.

• Best of Show, Broadcast Education Association On-Location Conference (2020)

• Best Musical Performance, Blue Chip Media Awards (2018)

Sank For Days – Director

The goal of the "Sank For Days" music video was to visualize the dark aural landscape of the record. I juxtaposed the yellows of the performance in the church with the blues of the cemetery where we witness the gravedigger digging away. The turn at the end of the video is he was digging his own grave.

Sanctity of Sanctuary: Paul Strauss and The Equinox Farm Trailer – Sound Designer, Technical Advisor

The Sanctity of Sanctuary: Paul Strauss and the Equinox Farm, is an Appalachian love affair between a man, his farm, and his desire to make the world a better place. This film ignites the green spark within us to live sustainably and to appreciate, cherish and protect our world.

Meigs County, Ohio, in the foothills of Appalachia, is the home of renowned herbalist Paul Strauss. Paul has rehabilitated land left bare by strip mines and has helped to create the United Plant Savers Sanctuary to preserve endangered medicinal plants. He is visited by herbalists from all over the world and holds classes on his 300-acre organic farm. Paul’s vision and transformational leadership have attracted like-minded people to purchase land in the area. These tracts of farms are joined together by a community walking trail that has turned into an eco-tourist destination called “The Talking Forest Medicine Trail.”

Paul is a charismatic person with wonderful stories to tell and has been referred to as a walking encyclopedia of plants. This feature length documentary speaks to a man’s passion for nature and his marriage to the earth.  The film asks in an honest way, for viewers to rethink their own energy use practices and become part of the energy solution instead of part of the problem.

The Roller Derby Queens – Sound Designer, Technical Advisor

Entrepreneur, dental hygienist, and bank teller by day, but by night... well, therein lies the story. The Roller Derby Queens is a documentary inside the lives, passions, and friendships of the Cincinnati Black Sheep and the everyday women who participate in the rough and tough world of roller derby. Follow the veterans and rookies as they prepare for their first 2010 home game in the Cincinnati Gardens.