From “Beyond the Reach of Woundedness” installation.

I love this piece— this series. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. After reading an essay on Thomas Merton in Emergence magazine years ago, I became fascinated by this idea that we damaged humans can reach beyond the woundedness that makes us inflict pain on others and the planet and find a place deep inside ourselves that a Cistercian nun interviewed for the piece believed was reserved for goodness or wholeness or love —or what she called God. I’ll leave it to you to define God for yourself. For me, I believe that place nestled in the depths of our being contains compassion and empathy. I think that may be what God is for me— not an external entity but an internal place of thoughtfulness and kindness. It occurs to me that it might be a good time to make more of these pieces. These are unkind times.

This piece was made lovingly from a ceramic hand, fungi made from cardboard pulled from the recycling bin and painted, wire gleaned from the creek behind my house and a tangle of yarn found in my grandmother’s craft supplies shed.