My large-scale fiber sculptures and pen and ink drawings highlight the elegance of rare and common plants I found hiking in the forested areas of Washington DC parks, specifically Dumbarton Oaks Park and Rock Creek Park. I choose to document the world around me this way because I believe that art plays an important role in enhancing human relationships with nature. As an artist, I currently serve on the Forest Resilience Framework Team, which includes the National Park Service and other partners, who are evaluating the state of the Rock Creek Park to determine how to best preserve it.  In this capacity, I play a unique role in helping to raise public awareness of the Park by showcasing the forests’ splendor and inspiring audiences to value it as a treasured resource. My work is recognized by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and I have received several Individual Artist Fellowships from them (2023 -2019). I was also honored to serve as the first Artist in Resident for Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy (2017-2019).

My pieces, large and small, raise awareness of native plants that live in the Park. My larger pieces take three to six months to complete because of the complexity and large scale involved (with sizes ranging between 4.5’ square or 2.5’ wide x 7’ tall). I begin by documenting each specimen I find in the woods: photographing it, sketching it on-site, consulting with botanists from the Park, as well as conducting research at the Smithsonian’s National Herbarium and conferring with their botanical illustrators. I then enlarge the photograph and draw the plant on Dacron to-scale seven to ten times its original size. Cutting this out, I assemble the fiber sculpture by machine, sewing the parts together, inserting copper wire for support, and hand sewing leaflets onto the stalk.  After painting it the with acrylics and defining the vascular system with colored pencils, the piece is mounted on a canvas painted with the impressions of cherry blossoms that boom in the District.

I intentionally create work that is larger than in real life so that our native plants can be experienced as vibrant, living, breathing life form like we are, but different. The purpose is to elevate other species, so we can honor their place in our world and mutually flourish.Mark Jenkins of the Washington Post described my large-scale works as “verging on the majestic” and the pen and ink drawings as “charming”. Adrian Higgins, Washington Post Living, section wrote: “If the purpose of art is to make us see familiar objects afresh, this project has to be considered a success.”