Every beloved object is the center of a garden of paradise.

This poetic musing by Novalis, an 18^th C. German writer is taped to the wall in my studio. It’s a timeless reminder of the sculptural ideal, where the material and spiritual worlds converge, where the physical and the metaphysical can wrestle in our imagination. Peregrination, peripatetic and migratory aptly describes my studio practice. My sculptures are often composed in series with the initial sparks coming in the form of chalk drawings and maquettes. These preliminary studies are then typically set-aside (or simply ignored) as time and memory engage in their arcane magic. Could be days, could be years before ideas reemerge with fresh insights and new iterations. Concepts are elastic, prone to the same transmutable nature as the materials employed. The exhibition features recent works reflecting the capricious nature of memory and its potential to define personal and communal history.

Beginning in 2015, at the invitation of The Grace Museum and working in collaboration with Susanna Lubanga, Director of the International Rescue Committee-Abilene, Jerolyn Bahm-Colombik and I initiated a project with the resettlement community in Abilene. To engage with families from Congo and Nepal is to enter a realm where personal histories are inextricably linked with global crises and the simple dreams that parents have for their children. The exhibition includes my photographic-based works from this project.