About

I am an artist working in Black Mountain, North Carolina. I build with what nature gives me: skeletonized New Zealand flax and magnolia leaves, handmade paper, rusted metal, steel, clay and wood. How is it that a slender, simple flax leaf, skeletonized and pressed, can become a thing of extraordinary beauty? What lies beneath the obvious? And how might it be combined with other elements to form something completely fresh?

Fifteen years of ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging natural materials, shaped how I see: line, space, and the life in a single stem or leaf. My sculptures are playful and draw on the energy of music, modern jazz in particular, and they challenge the notion that purpose and direction are linear and singular.

My Rust series began in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, pairing metal rusted in the storm with skeletonized flax. Stripped of their surfaces, each reveals a quiet architecture that was there all along: decay not only as loss, but as exposure.

“Life is not always what we think it is. What appears one way can be shaped into something very different. Celebrate the unexpected, remain open to change, and enjoy the process of doing both.”

Born in Baltimore, Maryland · BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art · Juried member, Southern Highlands Craft Guild · Represented by Allanstand Gallery, Folk Art Center, Asheville · Published in Fiber Art Now, Summer 2026