Artist Statement 

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As humankind has developed, we have colonized and altered our natural landscape, forcing native flora and fauna to adapt or face extinction. Refineries, powerplants and drilling rigs have become the mountains and forests of our industrialized world.

We live among these massive structures of our own making but have become accustomed to their presence, and incognizant of their effects on our ecosystem.

 

This series of sculptures utilizes materials that have been displaced from construction sites and building developments in Oklahoma City. In this work I construct an industrial plant diorama and larger than life wasp nests from reclaimed red earth and pieces of industrial materials that were discarded from building excavations. Through these works I explore the concept of organic structures being created from materials that exist due to human development and manmade structures becoming intertwined with the biological landscape. I use recognizable forms such as the common mud dauber nest and industrial facilities to examine the way our infrastructure has changed the perception we have of our natural spaces. Using exaggerated scale in this series, I play with the balance of power between the viewer and the landscape.

 

As the collision between nature and developed areas becomes more and more blurred, our awareness of our ecosystem has changed. In this work I seek to create a dialogue about perception of the “natural landscape” from the context of living in a manufactured environment.