original artistic installations
As part of my personal practice, I was invited to create a series of site-specific installations for Art Party Festival in July 2025, near Darrington, Washington.
I created the concepts for all five pieces, using my skills in visual art, writing, experiential design, woodworking, and fabrication. I also brought on a producer, creative technologist, and art director to help create and install specialized elements.
The installations were hugely popular with guests and fellow artists alike, connecting strangers and sparking conversations over the course of the festival.
Many guests reported being brought to tears by the unexpected beauty of some of the activations.
I created the concepts for all five pieces, using my skills in visual art, writing, experiential design, woodworking, and fabrication. I also brought on a producer, creative technologist, and art director to help create and install specialized elements.
The installations were hugely popular with guests and fellow artists alike, connecting strangers and sparking conversations over the course of the festival.
Many guests reported being brought to tears by the unexpected beauty of some of the activations.
My Connection
Embracing a National Parks aesthetic and the backdrop of Whitehorse Mountain, "My Connection" invited guests to create and leave a personal reflection using a series of predetermined options.
Messy conversations
The most technological and emotional of the installations, Messy Conversations invited guests to place their hands on the panel and breathe deeply to "listen" to the conversations between the trees of the old-growth forest.
Hidden sensors triggered a signal to a series of meditation chimes, buried deep within the forest, and activated servos to ring the chimes in an ethereal, ephemeral chorus. The effect was repeatedly described as "magic."
Hidden sensors triggered a signal to a series of meditation chimes, buried deep within the forest, and activated servos to ring the chimes in an ethereal, ephemeral chorus. The effect was repeatedly described as "magic."
Other ancestors
Conceptual and meditative, Other Ancestors used movable magnets against a "family tree" background to invite guests to imagine and arrange their energetic lineage: "a map of those who begat those who begat your spirit." With a mixture of humans, animals, and natural events, guests were drawn deeply into imagining different lineage that spanned history, geography, and emotions.
Many guests reflected that this was a deeply poignant experience, combining playful imagery with complicated histories.
Many guests reflected that this was a deeply poignant experience, combining playful imagery with complicated histories.
You Were Always Part Tree
This handmade book, hidden in the forest as an Easter egg, guides the reader through a meditative journey standing next to a tree of the reader's choice. The concept grew out of a project I developed as part of Narrative Constellations, a class offered through the School for Poetic Computation on non-traditional storytelling forms.
Neighborhood crush watch
Silly and celebratory, Neighborhood Crush Watch was a tongue-in-cheek riff on the "Neighborhood Crime Watch" signs that guests saw before they entered the festival property.
Crime watch signs have a long history of being closely associated with racial profiling, particularly in rural areas like Darrington. Art Party Festival welcomed a more diverse group of artists and audiences, and these signs helped to reclaim the tone of the environment and reinforce the festival's message of joy, community, and celebration.
Crime watch signs have a long history of being closely associated with racial profiling, particularly in rural areas like Darrington. Art Party Festival welcomed a more diverse group of artists and audiences, and these signs helped to reclaim the tone of the environment and reinforce the festival's message of joy, community, and celebration.
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Special assistance: Lilia Deering, art direction