The Capricious Bend- Decemeber 6-31, 2014- at WAG gallery

I’ve been working with wood constantly for about two years now.  Within those two years, I have discovered that there are some woods that work better with what I’m doing.  I love using multiple types of wood in each piece that I create, but I noticed that I have a simple kind of love for Baltic Birch. It’s consistently throughout every piece of mine.

A key element in my work is how the wood bends when tension is applied.  There’s a personal systematic way that I clamp and cut each wood piece so that they can respond to each other to create that tension.  It’s quite fun and interesting how, depending on the space and/or wooden forms, that this tension can vary in shape and structure.

Instead of manipulating something drastically to become a thing that it is not, I push for letting that thing be just what is. This is why I love working with wood. The material responds in a very direct way.

With my work, it is very important to me that it’s never permanent. I don’t use hardware. The only connection devices I use are clamps.  Clamps are mobile and impermanent, giving me freedom to be mobile and experimental with the structures. This way of working is perfect for me.  It gives me a way to explore and create while still staying true to the materials, the process, and myself.

Depending on the space, I can allow my work to interact with the architecture. It could be something as simple as a pole or the side of a wall. My process allows for on-the-spot change, and I love having that freedom during installation to make those formal decisions.   

In The Capricious Bend, it is very important to me that the viewers experience the structure as well as the material it is formed with. I want the construction of the pieces to be obvious. I want the viewer to see the decision-making that went into it as well as the process of creation.

For the WAG gallery, I created a whole new piece just for that space. I went through the same process as I did with my Breakthrough piece and many other pieces after it. I found a point of architectural interest and built off of that using clamps and wood pieces that I specifically design. Since the WAG gallery is relatively small, it created a nice element of interaction between the viewer and the sculpture which doesn’t always happen with my pieces.