ABOUT

Inspiration

I grew up in rural Vermont, off the grid and in the forest. Trees shaped my childhood: coppiced hemlock created a nest for the treehouse, maple saplings became my bows and arrows, and processing firewood warmed me three times. I explored the cellar holes and stone walls, remnants of an agrarian society being reclaimed by the forest. This intersection is my inspiration, the tension between humanity’s need to tame the wilderness, and nature’s ability to rebound when our backs are turned. Yet this division is false, we are not separate from nature. My art is always rotting into the landscape, my atoms are constantly being replaced by those of the wild strawberries and the wise trout. Perhaps this is why much of my work contains circles and spheres, to remind us of the ecological systems we cannot escape and to connect us to the realms we so desperately miss.

Education/Materials

I studied sculpture and environ-mental science at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. Several of my projects from this time can be viewed on this site. School provided the structure, but the landscape provided the education. I work primarily with materials found in the woods and in town. I do not cut trees down in order to sculpt with them. Nor do I purchase lumber or stone with which to work. My sculptures are created from unused, discarded, or forgotten matter: dying urban trees or rusted barbed wire strung through abandoned pastures. The sculptures I create are simple. They highlight the character of the material itself, the place it was taken from, and how it was manipulated by myself or other humans.

Current Work

I live in Bozeman, Montana, and teach Science and Art at an independent middle school. I continue to make sculptures from found materials during summer vacation. The western landscape is vast and daunting; my nascent style has yet to embrace the wide expanse. For now, I work with urban trees that were dying or removed to build condos. I wrap old barbed wire into less violent forms. I make planters out of decaying trunks. To learn more about me or to commission a sculpture, please visit the Contact page.

Photos: Lauren Lenz