Unveiled in counterpoint or on its own, rust is a natural stage of uniquely nuanced beauty.

I have found a following of kindred spirits to serve as stewards of the rust, wood, and glass I assemble, and my mission is to convert yet others to the appeal and integrity of natural tarnish. Because, in this age of respecting, recycling, and repurposing, the only thing greener than green? Is brown.

My assemblages are inspired by the tradition of wabi-sabi, which celebrates imperfect beauty and the ravages of time that render an object faded, oxidized, weathered, or distressed. Wabi-sabi serves as a guiding principle in what I collect and assemble, as I find rusted, weathered, and distressed elements intrinsic to my sense of beauty.

In my Western Series, mirrors are framed in time-worn windows and doors, and embellished with rusted and polished objects suggesting narratives of the American frontier.

The Eastern Series offers a cultural intersection--in wood and glass enclosures--of rusted pieces, architectural salvage, and Eastern iconography.

My series of Meta Reliquaries combines rusted tools and machine parts in wood and glass boxes, suggesting places made sacred by past labor and present absence.

The Tryst Series presents elliptical narratives, written in the hand of an elderly woman, and placed between sheets of reflective and clear glass in weathered window frames. These fragmented memories allude to past liaisons in places further evoked by rusted mementos that adorn the frames.

My Habitat Series is an homage to domestic identity and place in tableaux of paper and rust housed in transparent boxes.

Small Business: The Nanotechnology of Matter and Phenomenon is an installation

in progress.

The Red Series takes its inspiration from two sources I find inspiring: the color I most associate  with my own happiness, stimulation, and good fortune and the vast variety of texts that serve as slogans or quotations in popular culture. I discuss this work with Blair Schulman, in our KC Artist Link interview.