I started making trees in 2020 as I was processing my Mother’s death and for the first time in my life dealing with the my childhood trauma, sexual abuse at the hands of another. Grief and trauma were so entangled that I often couldn’t separate them. I just poured all my emotions into the clay. My Mom loved trees. I connected with her through the trees.  My first piece was “Fire Circle” and from there, I just kept going. Trees became my vehicle of expression.

A conversation with fellow survivor and writer, Donna Jenson of Time To Tell, led me to creating the Survivor Forest. She was encouraging me to keep sharing my story and my trees. She commented how common it is to hear other survivors talk about “their trees”, their hiding places from the abuse.

I came to trees through grief after the death of my Mom. But after my conversation with Donna, I began to think about my tree. Where did I hide? I indeed had a tree. Read more….

View my recent exhibition of the Survivor Forest!