I have had a fascination with nature for as long as I can remember. I feel as if the earth and all of its composition have a great number of stories to tell. The wood from the trees, the rocks and minerals from the ground and the forces of wind, water, sun and earth together speak of our existence in this place at this time.

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The dialogue that transpires between myself and the materials with which I work is enjoyable to me. I collect things from my environment that interest me – sometimes it is a chunk of wood or maybe a bent up piece of metal that has been laying outside for numerous years. Other times I may make a decision to unearth a dead tree root system and embark on an exploration of nature and time. Sometimes the dialogue begins immediately with these materials, other times it may be months or years before these things speak to me or before I am ready or able to listen.

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It is important to me that I do listen to my materials at hand as they have had an existence long before I came along which becomes the given circumstance of the work. Whatever thing that has befallen them – possibly a limb cut off or partial decay in wood or a crumple or rust in a piece of metal - are things that I have to accept and make a decision to cut or carve away, repair and reinforce them or work with them as they are. Consequently, each time I do that establishes a new given or a new normal and the process continues as the work evolves. In many cases I combine these elements so that the collective can express something that the individual cannot. I see this process much like the human experience as we all have our history and “stuff” that befalls us and we have to make decisions on how we deal with it and move forward, and as a result of our interaction with others and the melding of our personalities we can achieve something that is greater than ourselves alone.