As a second generation artist, I joke that I never had a choice in the matter of my creative future. Growing up in rural Southwest Virginia, I found my entertainment in two places: the forest, and my grandfather’s woodshop. As I got older, I began accompanying my grandfather to some of the most prominent fine art and craft shows across the country. With this experience under my belt, I attended college at James Madison University to study product design.

     After completing my degree, I chose to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather’s legacy and, combining what I learned from my study of design, continue in the vein of artistic creation and juried festival participation. In fact, I still make use of the technical innovations my grandfather made in the field of woodturning.

    There is inherent power in the stories we tell. That is why I base my art around the stories that have made me who I am; the story of my family. The story of the land I grew up on. The story of the materials I work with.  

     My process, which I call Wood Cloisonné, begins with collecting wood from my Appalachian home place and creating a woodturning. I then make multitudes of small pieces from a variety of wood species, wrap each piece in thin metal, and inlay them into the original woodturning. Through this process I am able to achieve a look that presents familiar materials in an innovative way, as well as infuse my own artistic sensibilities. 

     Every piece I complete is its own story. That story includes my medium of choice, my many decisions as an artist, and even representations of the life I have lived.