Portfolio of Professional Work
SAGE 41° 17.425’ N 114° 08.79’ W
2024
5" x 9.5" x 2"
Sound Sculpture
handmade paper, red cedar wood, compact electronic components, audio
This is a free-standing sound sculpture. Site specific plant selection and field recordings combine in this abstraction of landscape. A sheet of handmade paper floats on a hollow box, held in place by magnetic force. Conductive thread is integrated into fibers of desert sage & western cedar to form this thin paper membrane.
The conductive thread has two functions in this sound sculpture. First, these threads allow the handmade paper to be seated on magnets so that it appears to float. Second, these threads activate a vibration in response to electrical pulse. Once the threads are connected to a programmable sound board (ISD chip), the handmade paper sheet becomes the membrane of a low-tech audio speaker, capable of pushing airwaves into the surrounding environment.
This piece is viewer activated via a push button. Pressing the button once initiates sound playback. Pressing the button a second time stops playback.
An audio mix of field recordings from the sage desert of northeastern Nevada is heard.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Soundgarden: Brassica oleracea High Plains Migration
2023
20" x 13" x 3"
Sound Sculpture
vegetable papyrus, compact electronic components, audio
This is a wall-mounted sound sculpture. Site specific plant selection & field recordings combine in this abstraction of landscape.
A nearly transparent sheet of handmade papyrus floats inches from the wall, held in place by magnetic force. Conductive thread is integrated into compressed leaves of Brassica oleracea to form a papyrus sheet. The conductive thread performs two tasks inherent to this sound sculpture. First, these threads allow the sheet to be seated on wall-mounted magnets so that it appears to float. Second, these threads activate a vibration in response to electrical pulse. Once the threads are connected to a programmable sound board (ISD chip), the papyrus sheet becomes the membrane of a low-tech audio speaker, capable of pushing airwaves into the surrounding environment.
This piece is viewer activated via a push button that dangles from the sound board. The sound board, power source, wiring, & push button are visible, exposed at the bottom of the sculpture. Pressing the button once initiates sound playback. Pressing the button a second time stops playback.
The sounds of fall migration across the high plains of Wyoming vibrate through patterns of plant growth.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Soundgarden: Brassica rapa subsp pekinensis
2023
15" x 10" x 3"
Sound Sculpture
vegetable papyrus, compact electronic components, audio
This is a wall-mounted sound sculpture. Site specific plant selection & field recordings combine in this abstraction of landscape.
Constructed in a manner similar to the previous piece. Conductive thread is integrated into compressed leaves of Brassica rapa subspecies pekinensis to form a papyrus sheet.
This piece is viewer activated via a push button that dangles from the sound board. The sound board, power source, wiring, & push button are visible, exposed at the bottom of the sculpture. Pressing the button once initiates sound playback. Pressing the button a second time stops playback.
The vocalizations of a gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) audibly vibrate through patterns of plant growth.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Soundgarden: Solanum melongena
2023
26" x 27" x 3"
Sound Sculpture
vegetable papyrus, ebony wood, compact electronic components, audio
This is a wall-mounted sound sculpture. Site specific plant selection and field recordings combine in this abstraction of landscape.
Similar in construction to previous works in this portfolio. Conductive thread is integrated into compressed longitudinal slices of the fruit of Solanum melongena to form a papyrus sheet.
This piece is viewer activated via a push button. Pressing the button once initiates sound playback. Pressing the button a second time stops playback.
The sounds of a sheep herding demonstration held at the Maine Common Ground Fair vibrate through patterns of plant growth.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Soundgarden: Brassica oleracea subsp capitata
2023
24" x 25" x 3"
Sound Sculpture
vegetable papyrus, ebony wood, compact electronic components, audio
This is a wall-mounted sound sculpture. Site specific plant selection and field recordings combine in this abstraction of landscape.
Similar in construction to previous works in this portfolio. Conductive thread is integrated into compressed leaves of Brassica oleracea subspecies capitata to form a papyrus sheet.
This piece is viewer activated via a push button. Pressing the button once initiates sound playback. Pressing the button a second time stops playback.
The sounds of fall migration in open farm fields of midcoastal Maine vibrate through patterns of plant growth.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Inkling Score #14 with Tondichtung #1
2022
3.5” x 3.5” x .25”
Handmade Artist Book
archival ink jet print on niyodo paper
2022
56” x 36” x 22”
Sculpture
manzanita wood, maple wood, dowels, twine, hardware
The Inkling series of visual scores are handmade books. Details descriptions are included with other images.
The Tondichtung & Tone Poem series are music stands made in tandem with the Inkling Scores. The German term “Tondichtung” refers to an orchestral composition that seeks to express extra-musical ideas in music – usually in a single continuous movement that evokes the content of a poem, short story, painting, landscape, or other non-musical source. “Tone Poem” is the English translation of the term. In making the Inkling Scores, presentation became a source of inspiration for me to rethink the visual & sculptural function of stands & shelves as integral to the interpretation of sound. Each Tondichtung & Tone Poem is crafted from trees downed by storm or disease.
This sculpture is made from manzanita harvested in northern California and maple harvested in the Catskill mountains.
Inkling Score #15 with Tondichtung #3
2022
4” x 3.5” x .25”
Handmade Artist Book
archival ink jet print on niyodo paper
2022
45” x 28” x 28”
Sculpture
maple wood, dowels, hardware
The Inkling series of visual scores are handmade books. Details descriptions are included with other images.
The Tondichtung & Tone Poem series are music stands made in tandem with the Inkling Scores. The German term “Tondichtung” refers to an orchestral composition that seeks to express extra-musical ideas in music – usually in a single continuous movement that evokes the content of a poem, short story, painting, landscape, or other non-musical source. “Tone Poem” is the English translation of the term. In making the Inkling Scores, presentation became a source of inspiration for me to rethink the visual & sculptural function of stands & shelves as integral to the interpretation of sound. Each Tondichtung & Tone Poem is crafted from trees downed by storm or disease.
This sculpture is made from sugar maple harvested in the Catskill mountains.
Inkling Score #5 with Tondichtung #4
2022
4” x 3” x .25”
Handmade Artist Book
archival ink jet print on niyodo paper
2022
46” x 18” x 15”
Sculpture
white oak wood, cherry wood, dowels, hardware
The Inkling series of visual scores are handmade books. Details descriptions are included with other images.
The Tondichtung & Tone Poem series are music stands made in tandem with the Inkling Scores. The German term “Tondichtung” refers to an orchestral composition that seeks to express extra-musical ideas in music – usually in a single continuous movement that evokes the content of a poem, short story, painting, landscape, or other non-musical source. “Tone Poem” is the English translation of the term. In making the Inkling Scores, presentation became a source of inspiration for me to rethink the visual & sculptural function of stands & shelves as integral to the interpretation of sound. Each Tondichtung & Tone Poem is crafted from trees downed by storm or disease.
This sculpture is made from white oak and cherry wood harvested in the Catskill mountains.
Inkling Score #1 with Tone Poem #5
2022
4” x 4” x 1/4”
Handmade Artist Book
archival ink jet print on niyodo paper
2022
14” x 5.5” x 4”
Sculpture
cherry wood, hardware
The Inkling Score series of handmade accordion books are visual scores that propose an alternative map or way of reading a place.
Symmetrical inkblots, originally made using natural inks, are arranged in patterns that make visual phrases. The center folds of the inkblots are horizontally aligned as a sightline, a timeline, a landscape, a sonagram. The original inks are made from seagrass, kelp, black walnut, acorns, rust, pokeberry, sumac, marigold, goldenrod, blueberry—all harvested in Maine & the Catskill Mountains. These fugitive inks change quickly. To capture the fleeting alchemy, I scan & digitally print the visual phrases using archival inks on niyodo paper. These phrases are then folded along vertical intervals to make accordion books. These books are bound in either green, red, or blue book cloth, depending on the region where the ink materials were harvested.
Tone Poems are a series of wall-mounted sculptures that serve as music stands. Detailed descriptions are included with images that follow.
Inkling Score #6 with Tone Poem #4 & Inkling Score #1 with Tone Poem #5
2022
approximately 8" x 16" x 5.5" each
Sculptures with Handmade Artist Book
cherry wood, hardware, archival ink jet print on niyodo paper
Installation view from Of Other Music, solo exhibition at Jane Street Art Center
Inkling Score #18 with Tone Poem #3
2022
3” x 3” x .25”
Handmade Artist Book
archival ink jet print on Niyodo paper
2022
29” x 5.5” x 11.5”
Sculpture
cherry wood, hardware
Tone Poem #3 is a sculptural music stand made in tandem with the Inkling Score. Tone Poem is the English translation of the term “Tondichtung”. More information is included in the description of other works in this portfolio.
The cherry wood used was harvested in the Catskill Mountains.
Inkling Score #10 with Tone Poem #6
2022
3.5” x 3.5” x .25”
Handmade Artist Book
cherry wood, hardware, archival ink jet print on niyodo paper
2022
28” x 5.5” x 9”
Sculpture
cherry wood, hardware
Tone Poem #6 is a sculptural music stand made in tandem with the Inkling Score. Tone Poem is the English translation of the term “Tondichtung”. More information is included in the description of other works in this portfolio.
The cherry wood used was harvested in the Catskill Mountains.
A Place I Know
2022
variable
Installation with audio
lotus leaves, handmade paper, audio speakers, field recordings, led lights, glass jars, water, cherry wood
“A Place I Know” is an installation inspired by night sounds on a favorite lake. Paper sculptures of lotus leaves hang, suspended from the gallery ceiling and transmit the field recording from above. Water-filled jars bounce light into the space, creating moving shadows and disorienting perception of spatial relationships.The audio is a field recording from an undisclosed location in Maine, where I spent many pre-dawn hours capturing the sounds of a lake and its inhabitants.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
A Place I Know
detail
Maine Farmlands Harvest: Allium Cepa
2020
11′′ x 10.5′′ x 3′′
Sound Sculpture
vegetable papyrus, ebony wood, compact electronic components, audio
Maine Farmlands Harvest is a series of wall-mounted sound sculptures that are viewer activated and emit site specific sounds, much like works described previously in this portfolio. In building these sculptures I use plant material gathered where I collect field recordings to create low-tech audio speakers. A papyrus made by compressing laterally sliced bulbs of Allium Cepa vibrate with the sounds of pollinating insects in the field where this plant was grown.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Seaweed Soundgarden: Seaweed Remembers the Sounds of the Oceans #4
2019
28.5′′ x 13.5′′ x 3.5′′
Sound Sculpture
sugar kelp, ebony wood, compact electronic components, audio
This is a wall-mounted sound sculpture. Site specific plant selection & field recordings combine in this abstraction of landscape.
A dried length of sugar kelp floats inches from the wall, held in place by magnetic force. Conductive thread is integrated into the seaweed. Conductive thread is sewn as a pattern of concentric circles into the kelp & connected to a sound board. A small earth magnet is mounted on the back side of the kelp, seated on the coil of conductive thread. When a viewer presses the colorful button, an audio signal is sent from the sound board via the conductive thread. In response, the magnet vibrates, causing a sympathetic vibration of the membrane of the kelp. The kelp then acts as an audio speaker. The prerecorded audio comes from field recordings gathered during exploratory hikes of the coastal regions of Downeast Maine & the Bay of Fundy. I began this project as a StudioWorks resident at the Tides Institute & Museum of Art, in a bewildering & awe-inspiring landscape.
This piece is viewer activated via a push button. Compact electrical components are hidden from view behind a narrow band of ebony wood at the bottom of the sculpture. Pressing the button once initiates sound playback. Pressing the button a second time stops playback.
Audio is sounds of foghorns & fishermen at the dock.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Seaweed Soundgarden: Seaweed Remembers the Sounds of the Oceans #1
2019
16′′ x 13.5′′ x 3′
Sound Sculpture
sugar kelp, ebony wood, compact electronic components, audio
This is a wall-mounted sound sculpture. Site specific plant selection & field recordings combine in this abstraction of landscape.
Made in the same manner as the previous piece.
This piece is viewer activated via a push button. Compact electrical components are hidden from view behind a narrow band of ebony wood at the bottom of the sculpture. Pressing the button once initiates sound playback. Pressing the button a second time stops playback.
Audio is sounds of waves hitting shore on a ocean-facing rocky beach in Eastport, Maine.
Listen to an audio excerpt below.
Desire Lines: Poem Stone #1
2021
10” x 6” x 4”, individuals within series vary in scale
Collaborative Public Sculpture
cast pine rosin, text, archival ink jet print on niyodo paper
Desire Lines is an ongoing collaboration with writer M.C. Boyes. Poems are cast into stone-like forms using tree rosin (the origins of amber). These poem stones are then placed along hiking trails to be discovered. We hope to engage viewers in reading our landscapes in new ways.
Scores for Kezar Lake
2015
36” x 36” unframed
Digital Print
performance still image with Poemophone (Sound Sculpture)
In September of 2014, I spent three weeks living and working in a remote cabin as an Artist-in-Residence at Hewnoaks Artist Colony, near the White Mountains in Maine. There I focused on integrating field recordings and site specific performances into the language-based works I had been creating with experimental musical instruments that I have built. I brought recording equipment and a group of my experimental instruments to the residency to compose, perform and record in the landscape of New England. I spent my time editing on site, making compositional decisions based on being able to return to specific locations for further experimentation. Hiking each night I made nocturnal field recordings of the loons and owls in the region. By day I canoed the lake, studying the tree-line and the shore-line for use as a visual score. This experience culminated in and audio CD/booklet and a series of digital prints documenting my performances on the lake.
Listen to an excerpt below.
Poemophone: Bluebird
2010/ongoing
7” x 13” x 12”, individuals within series vary in scale
typewriter, tonewood, hand-forged steel
Sound Sculpture
This is one of eight lamellophone inspired experimental instruments in the Poemophone series. These sound sculptures are based on the mbira, a tradition percussion instrument originally from Zimbabwe, also known as the ancestor of the “thumb piano”. The 26 keys of the typewriter are replaced with hand-forged steel prongs that are tuned to sound when plucked. Each Poemophone´s tuning system is unique & derived from `Outlaw´ tuning systems, meaning that intervals between tones are irregular. Because each instrument in the series has its own unique tuning system a text composed on one will sound different when played on another. I am hybridizing these forms (mbira/typewriter) to juxtapose two distinct systems of composing – tuning systems & alphabets – in order to play with the voicing of meaning. The instruments are to sound the thing described; playing language as a physical force.
Listen to an excerpt below.