Environmental Activations

My first site-specific works were produced during grad school in Poland, out of bread, found wood and wicker. As I spent more time in the woods, I became interested in natural materials in urban spaces and man-made materials in forests and parks. I was especially drawn to locations with evidence of change over time, as materials disintegrate and reappear through natural regeneration or constructions appear and fall apart due to human interventions. Through temporary environmental installations that responded to their environments, I invited viewers to perceive change in these familiar places.

These projects, primarily from 2006-2021, feature installation Art, site-specific projects and outdoor artworks produced to interact with human and natural environments. The works explore bodies on a grand scale, connecting individual bodies to the Body of the earth. Over time, the environment itself became not merely nurturing but also potentially toxic or harmful, as I became aware of pollutants infiltrating natural systems and habitats. Later works use found, re-used and repurposed plastics and furniture to produce interventions ironically evoking natural forms (trees, waterfalls, hills). Through an art/industry collaboration in Nebraska City, I produced a tree out of used plastic pipe, to highlight local cycles of growth, blooming, decline, and replanting that depended on human stewardship over time.