Being situated among the rural New England forests profoundly informs and influences my practice. The objects and installations I create conceptually speak to sustainability, materiality, habitations and place both natural and human-made. I think about how our anthropological history, development and identity have depended upon trees. So much so that I find curiosity in forested lumber and its manufactured intent for building houses. Materially, I seek wood debris from residential construction and home renovations. My interests focus on structural lumber waste because of its essentiality as the ‘bones’ of our dwellings. I call into question the value and disposal of this waste material and its impacts on society, geography and the ecology of our planet. I think about how I can generate new purpose for this resource while respecting its origin and narrative, as well as the peoples directly connected to the land, industries and material. From these inquiries, I realize that my childhood self sought to make and build things with found pieces of wood much like I construct today. It is important to my practice that my objects give voice to the individual character, color, natural and hand-made markings embedded within and upon each wood scrap to reveal its antecedent lives, ultimately engaging in personal experiences, memories and meaning.