Body

 Body, 2025, porcelain, wire, acrylic and wool fiber, 168x5x108 inches

This work started small – five sticks collected on the shores of Lake Superior, worn smooth by the persistent wash of waves. I made plaster molds of each and cast them in porcelain. Once fired, these pieces of driftwood began to feel more like bones that slowly filled my studio. I spent many weeks creating a strange, disassembled skeleton. The process of casting is surprisingly laborious with each step requiring careful tending; after pouring, waiting, de-molding, and waiting again, each newly-cast form is trimmed and smoothed by hand. As I installed them on the wall, they slowly took on a life of their own, becoming less a collection of parts and more a singular, unwieldy form made of bone and sinew. The branches, with their lovely, water-eroded textures translated into porcelain, feel both beautiful and unsettling. Soft strands of fiber wrap around wires that hold everything together, unraveling to reveal hidden structures.