Aspen Grove, First Light

“Aspen Grove, First Light” is inspired by countless camping trips, looking up through aspen groves at dawn, with just the hint of pale light.

Rather than rely on an infrastructure for support or shape, like most of my pieces, “Aspen Grove” depends solely on the robust strength of the knots themselves, almost always the humble double half-hitch.  

I began in the center, with the wrapped columns intended to suggest trunks.  

The aspens’ “eyes”—the actual term for the eye-shaped, horizontal markings that indicate where branches grew in the trees’ early years—offered opportunities for a tapestry-like technique.  

As always, this work was informed by the character of the cord and the dynamism created by combining cords of varying gauges and textures.  Here, the juxtaposing of 2mm and 1mm cords resulted in bulges and recesses.