Bio
As an artist and backpacker, I explore the world on foot and record my memories in 100% wool feltings. In more than 7,500 miles of adventures in the woodlands of my home state and on the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Camino de Santiago, Colorado Trail, Arizona Trail, and high peaks of New York and New England, I've collected countless photographs, sketches and stories that inform and inspire my art practice. Through fiber art, I recreate, reimagine and celebrate my experiences so that I may share with others the wild places I love.
My artistic adventures begin where my travels end: back at my family's farm in rural Kentucky. Each of my felted pieces starts as raw wool, which we carefully hand-shear off our pet sheep. This wool is cleaned, picked, carded, and felted into a durable “canvas" of thick wool fabric. I then turn to the dyed wool that acts as my pigments. As painters mix colors on their palettes, I use combs and a blending board to combine dyed wool of various colors and fiber lengths. Using a specialized, barbed needle and a repetitive poking motion, I needle-felt just a few strands of wool onto the fabric at a time and work in layers to create a finished product that emphasizes both form and color.
By employing the warm texture and soft lines of wool to create an expressive realism style, I endeavor to present each felted scene as the beloved memory it is. My focus is on large-format feltings that evoke the grandeur of expansive backcountry landscapes and transport viewers to the wilderness. Adventure-inspired fine art that is lovingly crafted from natural materials, my feltings serve as conversation starters and focal points wherever they are hung, reminding viewers of our connection to the rest of the natural world.