Rural Shingle-Maker's Kit, 2022, Wood and Steel Tools, Handmade Cherry Shingles

Exhibited at The Dorsky Museum’s “Hudson Valley Artists 2022: The Material, The Thing”

Rural Shingle-Maker's Kit invites the viewer to appreciate Wood - our most vital sustainable building material. I believe that we are not connected with the materiality of our environment anymore, including what our furniture, clothing, everyday items, and dwellings are made of. It goes unnoticed by most. This Kit displays the simple, and in this case handmade, tools required to make something like a traditional roofing shingle - and the humble but beautiful material results. The locally-harvested wood in this piece comes from trees felled by storms, or killed by invasive species, giving another life to the wood, and engaging in sustainable harvesting practices. Through this work and throughout my practice I ask viewers to consider other, better ways of forging our lives. Alternatives to a world filled with disposable, identical plastic objects, and revitalized with craft we can see, feel, and appreciate.