lockdown Love collection

Help me support the Seattle Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund with this collection made to celebrate connection in times of crisis. 10% of proceeds from this collection will be donated to the fund.

"Our ethic must be one of belonging…To listen to the trees, nature’s great connectors, is therefore to learn how to inhabit the relationships that give life its source, substance and beauty.” —David Haskell

I chose the materials in these pieces intentionally, as they each hold their own wisdom in how we can navigate this current crisis.

Aspen

Aspen trees form clonal colonies—great networks of individual trees connected genetically and physically through a shared root system. Because of this structure, aspen colonies can live incredibly long lives—upwards of 10,000 years—even in the face of large-scale environmental changes. In most cases, aspen groves depend on fires to clear out competing conifers. While individual aspen trees may perish in the process, their clonal roots remain vivacious below the surface, ready to sprout forth quickly into a new world.

Aspens can teach us so much about going through hardship—not just that we can survive it, but that it is required for us to thrive. By facing difficult situations head on, we learn to collect our energy, disperse it to areas that need tending, and rise up together with renewed purpose and vigor.

rhododendron

Rhododendrons greet us with beauty in the PNW every May. My yard in West Seattle was full of their color when I created these pieces. They offer such a breath of sweet fresh air—which has been especially helpful this spring. I love this gesture and created many of these pieces to mimic the gifts of a bouquet or garden of flowers.

These rhododendron pieces are made to bring you joy and understanding that life is cyclical. May you look for the blooms while they’re present.

Cottonwood

Cottonwood trees are notoriously resilient in the face of erosion. They grow in riparian areas susceptible to water erosion, and even with roots exposed, cottonwoods serve as bank stabilizers to prevent further landscape change. As such, they form an important backbone in such ecosystems, providing shelter and shade for migrating birds, animals and fish.

As our systems are eroding in the face of the pandemic, we have an opportunity to assess the damage and hold up the banks of what we don’t want to crumble. These are pieces to celebrate the strength and resilience of ourselves and our communities.

cherry

Just as we were coming out of our winter hibernations, the pandemic forced us back to our own backyards and neighborhoods. Since then, one of the things that gets me through every day is noticing the changes in my and neighbors’ gardens. And the explosion of cherry blossoms is nothing short of a miracle in these strange times. You can file this away under an overused (but very true) expression of hope springing eternal, but as Terry Tempest Williams put it, “You know we’re bound by beauty, right? That will sustain us.”

These wall hangings made from ornamental cherry wood are meant to help us find buoyancy in beauty, especially when we need it most.