The woods near my home have a nice variety of tree species, but beeches are rare there. I had been watching a sweet young beech sapling for a few years, keeping climbing ivy off it, when disaster literally struck it. Broken Beech: What Was, Will Be

My intent with this shrine-like piece was to show a beautiful place that, when you look closer, isn’t what it seems.

“Canopy bed” was the first thing to pop into my head when The National Building Museum invited me to create a Dream Room – that is, a tree canopy bed. The Dream Rooms, created by two dozen American artists and architects, accompanied the “Small Stories” exhibition of historic dollhouses from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

During the Dark Ages, Irish monks preserved knowledge in beautiful manuscripts. The Irish became renowned as story-tellers, poets, playwrights. Words are the base of this work – literally and thematically.

I wanted to depict the fantastic red eyes of the cicadah, and also indicate in a visual way the loud sound that it makes.