"My work is multi-dimensional, with no specific top or bottom; this all‑roundness resists the tendency to limit appreciation of sculpture to a single aspect and restores it to its full dimensionality. I am fascinated by light, reflection and shadow, and by how they can make a sculpture feel more alive and dynamic. Qualities such as lightness and movement are important to me. Ultimately, I aim for a rigor in my sculptures that is free from the monumental stiffness so often found in the medium.

I keep my sculptures monochromatic to focus attention on form, line and light, and some surfaces are highly polished to reflect even more light and movement. I use photography to help achieve a cinematic or flowing quality, dividing forms into areas of light and dark. This creates an honest solidity of form alongside a sense of weightlessness. The attention to light and shadow animates the work, as if air moves through it, and it also allows me to view the pieces more objectively by creating a small distance between myself and the work. 

Avis Strattera / Balance Bird is delicately balanced, like our natural ecology, and can be viewed from multiple angles. The sculptures’ fragile, fine quality underscores the vulnerability of ecosystems; the bone‑like character of the forms references the reality of extinction. Like William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, my Bird Series can be read as two parts: “Songs of Despair” and “Songs of Hope.” The bird names are drawn from my botanical background and use Latin to make the message universal. The genetic name for all works in the series is Bird, “Avis,” followed by a species name that is descriptive; where birds have been cultivated (domestic poultry), cultivar names are added.

SONGS OF HOPE
 Avis Strattera — Balance
Balance Bird refers to the frail equilibrium of the natural world’s ecology, in which a very small event can cause a major change. Nature’s immense complexity is evident in the sculpture’s multi-faceted shape."

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