Artist Statement: Using 100% locally salvaged wood, the materials used in my work are all from storm damage, or emergency removal trees. Through this process, the trees legacy is saved, and its life remains constant. Salvaged woodworking is also a form a sequestering carbon, as rotting wood/decaying forests result in over 10 billion tonnes of carbon emissions every year. The wood used in my work is still very green, or fresh. During the practice of once turning green wood, the material now has its chance to speak, as the wood dries, it twists and warps, resulting in an elegance that simply cannot be duplicated through any other process. Most of the wood sourced has “defects”, rot, and cracks, these signs of distress are the usually the highlights of my work, just like in life without the ugly, there is no beauty. My obsession with nature, the balance between wonder, and certitude has led me down a very unique, and rather unusual path. Driven by the natural world that surrounds me. It is the same balance of imagination, and order, that drives the inspiration behind my work. The material must guide me, I cannot force it. Wood is a teacher, and I am its student. In the past, I’ve taken more traditional routes in the woodworking world, though it wasn’t until discovering how much this material in fact, does not want to be cut perfectly and fit tightly, that I really wanted to discover what it had to say, in its most organic glory.