Found and Lost
What slips by our collective awareness when the rest of the world is on fire? If a butterfly, or a bird reached functional extinction, would it have drawn more attention? I pull at the threads that connect all things and reach the end of one thread at the ash tree. From there I conduct my usual dance of dissection, examination, and artistic reconstruction. I create sculptures that draw attention to the tree’s journey in an attempt to preserve a piece of its existence before it is lost forever.
The heart of my work shines a light on the loss of the Ash tree due to the Emerald Ash Borer. I’ve gathered trunks, slabs, and branches from felled ash and peeled the bark away to expose the borers’ calling card: beautiful, curvaceous galleries etched by the borers’ progeny. Inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, I’ve embraced the wood’s flaws and imperfections in an effort to reveal a stronger, more honest interpretation. In place of broken pottery, I gather pieces of broken ash trees. In place of gold, I bind the spirit of the ash with sister woods: mahogany, walnut, cherry, oak and hickory.
As an artist, I can shine a light on the darkness of a situation… I can also shine a light in the darkness, revealing the beauty that exists in spite of the situation.
Beauty, inherently, must exist.
Update: The ash tree's story was the sole focus of my work from 2022-2024. I felt like I was doing my part to preserve the ash in a very small way... documenting its existence before all traces were lost from the landscape. After showing this series in Wausau, I was left with a forest of very large pieces and no where to store them. At that time I was also feeling a shift in my focus.
It was then I completely dismantled and shelved the bulk of this series. What remained were a few small intact works and photographs of each sculpture. Abandoning this work had, a bit, felt a like a betrayal... as with all stories that are left incomplete. So in October of 2025, I recreated my version of the story as a proper ending. Using the dismantled sculptures, I created a mosaic focus wall in our home incorporating pieces of the dismantled wood sculptures.
*See photo at the bottom of the page. The embedded circles are what remains of the dowels that once held the sculptures together.
"Marked for Felling"
Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau, Wisconsin
CVA Wausau graciously featured my sculptures in a solo show that ran from January 10 to March 16, 2024. One of the coolest, most instantaneous bursts of joy for me came from the subsequent children's art exploration that included my work.
In honor of Youth Art Month, which serendipitously coincided with 'Found and Lost', CVA Wausau hosted the 37th annual "Expressions Kids' Day of Art." Expressions is a full day of creative art learning and exploration through self-expression in a wide variety of mediums and techniques. On March 2, 2024, CVA hosted 65 youth participants. A few photos from that day are featured in the photos below. The kids 'got it!' I was so impressed and completely blissed out with their interpretations. On a slightly humorous side note... I bet the participants, first hand, experienced how precarious it is to transport their beautiful sculptures.
