STATEMENT:
This body of work was created through documentation of the natural world, something our current culture lacks severely. The absence of observation has limited our opportunities for interaction and connection. Our society’s idea of nature has almost become that of the readymade, never truly observing or understanding our surroundings. Through this body of work, I want to provide people the chance to
experience, question, and rediscover the natural environments surrounding them.
This organic interaction is delivered by natural and fabricated materials reproducing interactions through perception. Our ability to perceive these natural materials is enhanced by viewing manipulated organic objects. The processes of refining clay dug by hand from a river to construct a fabricated rock emphasizes and reconstructs the idea of ‘nature.’ When these natural materials are refined and transformed by hand they gain greater sense of value.
Through chosen materials within the work the idea of value is communicated. Manufacturing the metamorphosis of fallen leaves into porcelain replications gives a nearly identical object more cultural value and importance. The importance we place on material goods is not extended into the world of organically occurring objects; labor-intensive fabrication confers value on a artifact never granted when it has been produced naturally. By admitting the effort it takes to replicate even the simplest natural processes we can realize the interconnectedness of these complex systems that are occurring naturally around us.
