With only 4 years of metalsmithing work, I have developed a variety of work from sculptural to conceptual to everyday wearables. 

Each of the pieces in this category are centered around a concept, involve a large number of parts/beads, require elaborate planning and meticulous craftsmanship. 

Most of my work involves upcycled elements. I often use tins and old costume jewelry. These pieces utilize cold-connection methods for assembly. 

The production line pieces use fused plastic bags for their colorful portions with copper, brass and nickel for the metal portions and silver ear wires. 

The Cigarette Planet is a 30" mache globe covered with cigarette butts that I picked up off the streets of Baltimore.

Cigarette butts are the most littered item on the planet. They are made from plastic and after smoking, the filters are filled with harmful chemicals that then leach into our soil and water when flicked on the ground as litter. 

This sculpture is very attractive to viewers who feel compelled to come closer and even touch it, intrigued by what they are looking at - until they realize what they are seeing/touching are littered butts. 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide each year. 

This campaign is part of an effort to fight cigarette litter in downtown Baltimore. The posters feature The Cigarette Planet - a 30" mache globe covered with cigarette butts picked up off the streets of Baltimore.

In partnership with the Environmental Control Board of Baltimore and Waterfront Partnership, a Keep America Beautiful grant was obtained to fund the effort. The images are also used on Terracycle cigarette butt recycling containers in the southeast area of the inner harbor. 

Graphics designed for the Baltimore Office of Sustainability to promote the bag ban in Baltimore city. These graphics utilize bright colors, simple layouts and tongue-in-cheek humor from the point of view of the plastic bag, reminding Baltimoreans that bringing and using reusable bags helps reduce litter, save animals and avoid a bag fee. 

Over 30 finished graphics were supplied to the Baltimore Office of Sustainability for promotional use. 

This campaign is in use in southwest Baltimore by The Southwest Partnership. The campaign approaches the litter problem with a neighborhood/team/pride approach instead of a "wagging-finger", don't litter approach, avoiding the defensive response that can happen when people are "told what to do".

The posters feature SWP residents who already work within their neighborhoods to keep their sidewalks and streets clean. 

I hope to have other neighborhoods adopt the theme/poster series and would like to use photographs of people in those neighborhoods to encourage personal investment. 

Four Alarm Art was formed to identify a rotating group of artists coming together to show work about environmental and biodiversity issues pre-covid. 

There were four exhibitions planned at Baltimore Meadworks, Creative Alliance, Maryland Hall and one additional location that was in negotiation. Three of the four exhibitions took place prior to the first covid shut-down in March of 2020. Maryland Hall and Creative Alliance suffered low attendance and early shut-down due to the pandemic. 

None of the exhibitions were funded so all work was volunteered by myself and two other artists, Lynne Parks and Blake Conroy. All promotional graphics were designed by me. 

These installations and artworks have served to raise awareness of how much we litter, of our consumption of one-use/plastic items and our need for legislation and education regarding these issues. 

​Two of the Rivers of Recycling were advertised by myself and executed with the help of family, friends and volunteers. The data collected was used to testify in front of policy makers Annapolis in support of Bottle Deposit Legislation (take your bottle back to a store, get 5 cents back per bottle). 

Prayers for the Sea/ River of Recycling was installed at Artscape. A series of 100 18" flags in the fashion of Tibetan Prayer Flags were created from fused plastic bags and flown above the river. The River was executed with the help of Clean Corps and BOPA volunteers.

The River was again recreated at Johns Hopkins University as part of a thesis exhibition for MICA curatorial grad, Christopher Beer (See project pictures for further details/description). 

Other projects include flash trash creations during the trash wheel trash count and community storm drain stenciling. 

Baltimore Trash Talk's School Recycling & Litter Program sprang from a series of presentations to students held during the Synergy Exhibition and River of Recycling Event (see Baltimore Trash Talk Rivers of Recycling - Artscape, Park & Colleges project).  The response to the presentations was so positive, I used the presentation materials and a costume I had designed for the Creative Alliance costume party (it was a winner!) and applied for grant funding to continue the in-school program.

I have now received two grants to continue the programming and expand on it. I am presently planning projects with the Orchkids program and Bard Early College.  Among others, I have presented to students at PPPCS, Tench Tilghman, Calvert School, The Baltimore Lab School, Hampstead Hill, Waverly Elementary, Benjamin Franklin High School...with more to come as utilization of the second grant is just starting. 

Presentations often include interactive exercises on population/pollution and conversations with the students about how our surroundings affect the way we think and feel - touching on stewardship, civic duty, city water systems, water quality and litter.