“Hair Nest” fuses my themes — beauty and the environment — into one. The series of 10 works incorporate 10 years of my hair loss. Each contains (1) seven-foot high drawing of a tree part; (2) cast or fabricated 3-D branch or actual branch projecting from the drawing or (3) nestling at the base of the drawing in a field of stones and other materials. The fabricated branches are constructed of glass, wax, silk organza or paper. Each work contains (4) a nest constructed from a year of my daily hair loss, either nestling in a branch or fallen to the base.
Scientists record twenty-two benefits of a tree, encompassing air quality, climate change, erosion and food as well as numerous other comforts. Tree markings —scars and burns — and tree-ring dating provide yearly climate history. The markings speak of an existence affected by elements beyond their control — drought, fire, disease and of course, humans. Yet, they endure.
It is hardly a reach to blend tree drawings and limb sculptures with my signature component — human hair. Hair contains our complete DNA and lives beyond death. The perseverance of trees, the permanency of hair. These concepts inspire the work and carry it forward.
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