I have always enjoyed thinking creatively. I grew up in an artistic family and the desire to create always seemed natural. Living in the woods in a small New England town, without any siblings, led me to spend a lot of time by myselfI would wander outside for hours, watching animals, talking to them, seeing how close I could get, playing in the stream, swimming in the lake, and climbing treesNature has always been a very influential part of my life.

College came at a very difficult time in my life and I gravitated towards art as a form of therapyIt allowed me to explore my feelings and emotions without having to verbalize them. My art grounded itself in nature, making me feel safe and shelteredIt helped me deal with my obsession to remember by allowing me to dive into my memories, free from any judgment. In my art I have focused on transience, the idea that everything is constantly changing and in motionPhotography and sculpture are the two forms of art I concentrate onAlthough these are very different mediums, I connect them both to the natural world.

With photography I am able to capture a moment or object before it changesI place great value on almost everything: little flowers growing along the road, crushed pinecones on the forest floorTo me, it is all worthy of a greater importanceBy photographing these little things, I force people to look more closely at themI make them see the beauty I know is thereThese objects get covered up, stepped on, or they decompose as time passesNow they are immortalized in a photographChanges can occur but the photo remains the sameIt gives me comfort to preserve these objects, knowing they won’t be forgotten.

When taking photographs I prefer to separate myself from other peopleI often wander into the woods, making sure to find quiet, relatively untouched areasI feel like a kid again, filled with that same excitement and alertnessMy inspiration comes from the natural things and light around me. I shoot largely with a macro lens, which allows me to get close to my subject. I look for little things with unique forms, colors, and texturesMy photo series I slipped and landed in a pricker bush is largely an exploration of color and small flora throughout the forest. I experimented with shallow depth of field and blurring parts of my image with leaves and other plant lifeThese blurs dominate the composition and cast an ethereal glow across the photoI rarely go outside with a clear vision of what I want to photograph; I am simply responding to my surroundings.

When creating sculptures, I gain most of my inspiration from my materialsI work mainly with found objects, many of which I find in the woodsI begin to sketch ideas based on my collection of objectsOnce I have settled on a rough idea I continue to gather materials, this time with a much clearer focusAs I start constructing my vision, I am constantly making changes and adjustmentsThrough trial and error I learn how certain materials can be manipulated and my overall piece evolves through this experimentationMy sculpture Grandmother Willow, an integration of human and natural form, was largely an exploration of different natural materialsI first built a wire armature of a basic outline of a head, shoulders, and upper torsoFrom there I began to work my materials and create the rest of the formMany of the plants and leaves I was using began to disintegrate or crack as they dried, and I had to continually alter my plan to fit the ever-changing state of my materials.

With sculpture I do the opposite of my photography and embrace the ever-changing qualities of natureI highlight themMany of my sculptures have elements that will continue to change as time goes onAccepting and embracing this change has been an interesting journeyI never want things to be different, but life has a way of making that impossibleI make art largely for myself, and creating will always be a way to calm my anxious mind.