Lives of the Southern Highlands is a series of assemblages exploring the nature and culture of the Southwest Virginia/Northeast Tennessee region. Each combines artwork, topographical maps, and natural specimens. And each piece is like an archaeological dig, exploring the strata of what I experience at a particular site. The phrase ‘glimpse the layers’ often surfaces in my mind as I work. For all we can do is glimpse the lives—past and present, human and more-than-human—that pass through a place.



















