STATEMENT OF WORK

I construct sculptural “drawings” from wood. My main body of work consists of hinged lines of finished wood joined to fallen branches or other dried plant material. The work reflects the complexity of our relationship with the natural world, specifically plants. I am interested in our manipulation of plants through grafting, tying, and cutting; practices which can both destroy ecosystems and rejuvenate threatened species.

I work collaboratively with the plant material; the specific shape of each trunk or branch determines the form and narrative of the piece. The combination of processed wood and organic forms suggests prosthetics attempting to return a mechanically-altered material to its natural state, or conversely, as a mechanization of nature. Some pieces balance on end against the wall, held only by a single string. This further highlights the precarious tension we have created between ourselves and nature, between our past and present actions and the effect they will have on the earth’s future.

A secondary body of work consists of wood mosaics. These reference architectural forms, combining a sense of the intimate and the monumental. They are inspired by the variations in plywood edge patterns, which remind me of the markings of different types of birds. The overall shapes draw from architectural and design history, suggesting arched doorways, brick walls, opaque mirrors, or buildings from above. They collapse surface and space, alternately implying a frontal or overhead view of familiar structures, although never resolving into one interpretation.