Medusa
Andytown Coffee Roasters
San Francisco, CA, 2019

25.3 in h x 250 in w
Archival inkjet print on canvas with coating

When Andytown Coffee Roasters expanded to a location in downtown San Francisco, they had to transform their vision from a sleepy, beachside community shop to one befitting a steel-and-glass skyscraper. They elegantly meshed their aesthetic with the sleek and minimalist nature of the new Instagram headquarters, and asked me to create a work that would bring the natural world back into the space. I photographed the length of a tree trunk—an ancient California live oak named Medusa that had been uprooted in a storm—and created a 22-foot-long panorama. I imbued each panel of bark with color samples from the tags of Andytown’s original coffee bags. Now Medusa rests for public reflection among the concrete and glass of downtown San Francisco.

TED x SoMa
"Subject to Change"
Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco, CA 2017

Archival inkjet prints on portable stands

The TED x SoMa team organized their 2017 series around the idea that all things are “subject to change.” Their speakers interpreted this through physical and psychological means—through artwork, dance, sign language, the experience of moving across the world, and more. When asked to design a stage for the event, I thought about the underlying tone of transformation in my Osiris series. For Osiris, I created porcelain death/life masks from my face, then shattered and mended them with gold lacquer using a Japanese ceramic repair technique known as kintsugi in order to honor personal growth. To complement the speakers and their ideas, I made large-scale photographs and hung them on stage in a constellatory testament to the awesome power of change.

Encyclopedic Arrangements
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Richmond, VA, 2021

12 flower arrangements + vases
14 ft x 7 ft x 4 ft

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts hosts artworks from every era of human creation. Walking through their halls provides a unique and powerful way to experience our collective history. When asked to create a floral arrangement for the VMFA, I considered the museum’s nature as a host for our past, present, and future. I created 12 different arrangements drawing from floral traditions across time—from English to American and Japanese; from living flowers and nascent tree buds to preserved, opened seed pods—and united them in one cohesive sculpture.

Manzanita Wave
Andytown Coffee Roasters
San Francisco, CA, 2017

Manzanita tree branches affixed to wall

Manzanita Wave is an installation of manzanita tree branches at the Outer Sunset location of Andytown Coffee Roasters. Drawing from their seaside nature, just two blocks from the ocean, I made a sculpture that came from the exposed rafters of the ceiling down to service level. Originating with branches around six feet long and culminating in a twig, the crash of this permanent wave ends with a whisper.