Manifest

As an artist I have some core values and beliefs that I try to make shine through in my art. I also have a message that I want to share with as many people as I can in the world.

Summarized in a few bulletpoints:

Save the wood - don't cut down trees unnecessarily
- An old and rottet piece of wood carries a story to be told through my art
Collaboration with the wood
Brain injury awareness
Process over product - craft-psychology

Save the wood

I have a general rule for myself that I don't buy wood that has been cut down for lumber. Because of this I get my wood from:

Friends and family that have trees they need to cut down
Trees that have fallen in bad weather
Rotten trees that have fallen down/been cut down
Trees that are cut down out of necessity

This means that I am always on the lookout for potential wood. If I spot a fallen tree in someones garden/property I will go in and ask if I can help them remove it - to get the wood.

I also get calls from friends and family asking if I want to help clean up fallen trees or I call them if I know they have wood lying around.

If I am in areas where it is allowed to forage wood I will look for any relatively fresh wood that I can fit in my car or on a trailer to bring home.

Collaboration with the wood

When I am working on any piece of wood I see it as a collaboration between me and the wood. I cannot make a sculpture without following the patterns in the wood. When thinking this way I find that the wood will show me these patterns and guide me to make beautiful patterns arise from the grain in the wood and the bends and bows the wood naturally has. Because of this I also love working with old and jagged pieces of wood with many knots - even with burls. This gives so many unforseen patterns and shapes - again showing the collaborative element of the sculpture and hence my art.

Brain injury awareness

The only reason I found my artistic side is because I had a brain injury. This new insight into my own psyche and what making art does to me is something I want to share with others in similar situations. Making art (craft in general) has saved my mental health and is something I want to showcase through my art in hopes of inspiring others with brain injury to seek out new paths in life instead of grieving the path they can no longer follow.

Process over product - craft-psychology

For me the end product actually has little value. This does not mean that I do not like my art or what it represents. It just means that making it is where I "produce" my energy and it being the process of making it that keeps me sane. My mental health (and at times the mental health of my entire family) depends on me finding calm and serenity in working with my hands and drawing the different shapes out of their hidingplace inside the wood.

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