The majority of the wood seen in these sculptures is harvested from my partner’s land overlooking the Pike National Forest, and in particular, from what I believe is the mother tree of the ponderosa pines on that mountain. When I first saw this special tree nearly 8 years ago, 60 feet long and hollowed out by insects, I fell in love with it, and envisioned it standing again and filled with light. With the help of friends we managed to cart the pieces to my studio, and she has become my muse. I’m often struck by the beauty of the twist in the trunk, a defense against winds on mountaintops, and unseen while the tree is alive and covered with butterscotch-scented bark.
I’ve been disturbed to learn, however, that these majestic pines, whose pinecones open in fires to release their seeds, are not returning to wildfire scarred land at lower elevations, as the climate is no longer hospitable to their growth. Using this harvested wood in its original form is my way of honoring their memory as individual beings, as opposed to planing the wood to a
board, as woodworkers usually do, erasing the scars and evidence of the life these individuals lived and turning them into a uniform material. Preparing the wood feels like an intimate act, as I clean away the rot and learn all of its sinuous curves.
Recently, I’ve found great inspiration from the work of Suzanne Simard, a Canadian scientist and forester who wrote “Finding the Mother Tree”. Her groundbreaking discoveries about mycorrhizal networks connecting trees into a “wood wide web” was the inspiration for this show’s title, as she has expanded our knowledge of forests from seeing them as a mass of trees to being a supportive community that shares resources with one another and communicates, which gives me great comfort. One quote in particular really resonated with me: “When we see it, we understand it. And when we understand it, we care about it. And when we care about it, we’ll do something to help save it.” This quote perfectly articulates what drives my work: the desire to share my wonder at the natural world, in the hopes that I can cause others to care about it.