I hold the view that life is fluid and that objects are temporary organizations of matter. Solid wood comes from sunlight, air and water.

Cut to the woodshop, a hothouse of forged steel and shrill engines and honed blades. This is what humans have come up with as a place for getting intimate with wood. And strangely, it works. I operate woodworking machinery with laser-beam mental focus and a firm commitment to keeping all my fingers. The result is a kind of passionate alertness, where insight and tenderness can bubble up and simmer, primordial-like.

I consider my artworks to be artifacts of the time I spend in that state, working over, chewing on, and steeping in the stuff that life brings along. The finished pieces capture felt experiences such as loving, listening, dying and being part of a family.

I started making art while training as a nurse in the 1990’s. I found the medical view of the body suffocating and I found relief in figure drawing. I discovered that my drawing practice enlivened my nursing practice, and I have been investigating the reciprocal relationship between art and life ever since.