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Bryce leVan
Cushing believes that this culture has become too attached to
physical items and external power. He chooses to smash the objects
that people covet and convert them into recycled art objects.
As an artist,
Cushing considers himself part of the third
gender movement and is an art shamen in recovery from
exposure to the American consumerism conspiracy.
In
1973, Cushing was born to a minister father and mother team, in
Englewood, Colorado. He had a very unstable childhood, as his
parents divorced when he was six. His father moved his family
(Cushing and his two sisters) to rural Montana, where he took
a post at a small church in Absarokee.
In 1986,
at the age of 15, Cushing declared himself out of the gay closet.
At that time, he was working on the Lazy el Ranch in Roscoe, Montana.
The ranch was founded by Malcom Mackay and was the former home
of artist, Charles M. Russell. Cushing also worked at the famous
Grizzly Bar and Den, where he learned the value of hard
work.
Cushing
moved to Tucson, Arizona and attended prep. school at the University
High School. While in Tucson he worked as a professional actor
and was an active member of the activist group Act-Up
Tucson.
In 1992,
Cushing started experiencing visionary dreams in meditations and
decided to go on a spiritual search to find his gay identity.
This lead him to the activist group, the Radical
Faeries. Bryce marched with them on Washington and
soon after attended his first Radical Faerie gathering, in Short
Mountain, Tennessee. He was introduced to founder Harry Hay.
Cushing
worked as a model, a garden designer and a chef for 10 years in
Philadelphia, while with partner/photographer, Peter Lien. He
also performed and recorded with his band Karma Ex Machina,
while working as a producer up and down the east coast.
In 2000, after a break-up with Lien, Cushing moved to Buffalo,
New York where he became an antique dealer and open his first
shop. Under the direction of Andrew Gay of the Stock Exchange
(Buffalo, NY), Cushing began doing clean-outs, buyouts and estate
liquidations for several years. This is when Cushing discovered
his inner talents as a sculptor and began smashing his over stock
to produced his present medium's style.
He has shown
coast to coast, starting with the MarK Bathen gallery in San Clemente,
Blink
gallery in Boulder, Warren Muller's bahdeebahdu
gallery, the Niagara
Falls Arts and Cultural Center and many other galleries
and shows. He is currently operating his own gallery in Putney,
Vermont called MoonFire's Tower.
Love
and Light to all,
Bryce leVan
Cushing,
aka MoonFire
Tower
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