Chautauqua Lake from Long Point 1, August 14, 2020, 2020

Many of us, myself included, have a yearning to be near the water, both for recreation and for the meditative calm offered by the ever changing ripples and waves of the water's surface. In making this series, I've been visiting places where the public accesses the rivers and lakes in our region. Photos of the water's surface taken from these locations form the basis of these pieces. While each of these public access points is different – different neighborhoods and people, different levels of amenities available, etc. – the always-similar-but-not quite-repeating shapes of the water's surface are a constant and shared experience. These images are laser cut into wood, which is then charred. The charring, while destructive, creates a protective outer layer to the wood. This is emblematic of our complex relationship with the landscape – scarring and protecting, rejecting and embracing, navigating between civilization and wildness.