Description

I spent my childhood in the Appalachian foothills and always had an affinity with nature. We grew up playing make-believe in the woods and story-telling under the stars. In school, I was influenced by the Old Masters, art nouveau, and surrealism and their ties to nature. The way they transformed the mundane into objects of great beauty, symbolism, and intrigue has shaped the foundation for much of my own work. My personal studies in ikebana and environmental psychology have made my work purposeful, even in its playfulness. Through photographs, videos, and the still life itself, I create and document scenes of plants, flowers, and the food around me. My compositions highlight specific functional aspects of a plant(s) as well as their “inner” world, tying together themes of life cycles, botanical science, myth, and the surreal within nature. Through my art I hope to inspire others to create their own intimate connection with nature. It is only when we have a personal connection with something do we begin to consider it in our day-to-day lives.