Richard was born in Port Angeles, Washington, USA. After ten years of teaching in a Washington institution for delinquent children, he arrived in Canada in 1976 to take the position of school counselor in Peace River and became a Canadian citizen in 1980. Now, a retired educator, Richard and his wife, Sharon, live in the hamlet of Bruce, Alberta. There they have remodeled a “prairie school house” into a home and studio. This home/studio is located in the centre of a major wildfowl migratory route which enables Richard to photograph and study the birds represented in his work.
Richard’s formal education consists of a bachelor of arts degree in Education, with a major in biology, and an additional year of post graduate studies. His wood sculpting skills are “self-taught”, with significant encouragement from his wife, his two daughters, the galleries which represent him, and those who collect his work.

Richard has been in public education for 30 years. He has been a high school biology teacher and junior high science teacher, and a school counselor, in addition to, being a school administrator for 16 years. Richard has also been the instructor of adult wood carving classes for the Camrose Art Society and through Augustana University College in Camrose, Alberta.

Richard has received several awards in international wildfowl carving competitions and has participated as a judge in similar events. He donates pieces of his work to Ducks Unlimited Canada and other public service organizations. Richard’s work is included in corporate incentive gift programs and can be viewed in private collections in Canada, the United States, Asia, Ireland, Great Britain, and other European countries.

Richard carves in both the traditional style, in which birds and trout are carved as a realistic representation of the species, and in the more contemporary style of carving wildlife into raw wood. In traditional carving Tupelo wood is used to develop a lifelike species. In wood sculpting the bird is developed to compliment a unique natural wood form.