Peace Dance

My practice is a physical dialogue between the structural discipline of heavy timber construction and intuitive discovery of the "found" object. As a former builder of log homes and current Vice President of Operations for the ODC Network, I have spent my career balancing human infrastructure with the natural environment.

In The Soul of a Tree, George Nakashima posited that a woodworker offers a tree a "second life" by releasing the spirit trapped within its fibers. Peace Dance is the fulfillment of that second life. Peace Dance is a six foot tall testament to Michigan's environmental resilience. Carved from a single, century-old White Ash salvaged from the Outdoor Discovery Center nature center after falling victim to the Emerald Ash Borer, the wood underwent a rigorous seven-year seasoning process in my studio before a single chisel was struck. By pushing the structural limits of this reclaimed hardwood, the work reveals the weightless, soaring grace of dancing cranes hidden within the dense grain of a fallen giant.

Through this piece, I seek to prove that even in the wake of ecological loss, there is a second life of profound beauty and quiet strength waiting to be uncovered.

Using subtractive carving, I have sculpted the hollow trunk to reveal a group of cranes caught in their seasonal dance. This "peace dance" represents the delicate cycle of life, where strength and fragility coexist. By utilizing my background in landscape architecture, I have treated the negative space of the trunk not as a void, but as and interactive space - a sanctuary of light and shadow that invites the viewer to look through, and into , the heart of the wood.

Having founded the Nature Play division at the ODC Network, I believe that art must be a tactile , lived experience. I have finished these surfaces to be touched and explored, creating a physical bridge between the public and the material. Peace Dance invites the viewer to participate in its second life.