Nesting Instinct

This nest piece has been in the works for a while now, sitting on my studio table, or leaning against the wall. Imagine if you can, the panel without the added tangle of wire. That is how it was for a few months. I liked it well enough, but always felt like something was missing. When I was working on another piece and was going through a box of random things that I collect and gather and keep in hopes of adding it to a piece, I found the tangled mass of wire……and I grabbed my panel and placed it on top, and it finally felt complete.

Taking natural elements or man-made, discarded elements to my mixed media work really excites me. Finding a new way to use that material aligns with my beliefs that too much of our materials end up in the waste stream and in landfills. The nesting instinct is defined as a biological urge in pregnant animals to build a nest to protect one’s offspring. Animals build nests to protect their eggs, their offspring, or themselves from danger. Can we think of the nesting instinct as something not just concerning pregnant women, but something we all need to embrace as we face an ever more polluted world?

This piece will be exhibiting at Lark & Key Gallery in Charlotte, NC next month.