A Rose For Every Pound speaks to increasingly skewed cultural shifts that I perceive in the hunting world. As a female who is in knowledgeable in the history of hunting in America, I am disturbed by the ever-increasing presence of machismo, trophy hunting versus harvesting, and assumptions regarding female hunters. Many people have forgotten or are unaware of the traditions, the history, and the time when there was more equal representation, treatment, and respect for women in the field.

At times romanticism and nostalgia have a place in the creation of my work and the experiences that inspire it. In reality, it’s not all roses. While hunting in the frigid cold, or when welding and forging, I am battling burns, cuts, blisters, frostbite, and cracked hands: less than ideal conditions. Despite these circumstances, I continue pursuing the experiences to be found in the mountains and inspiration they give me in the studio.    

By using steel, I created more permanent homages to my experiences that are less likely to be replaced or stripped—unlike memories in their fragile state. I created A Rose For Every Pound to remind myself of the circumstances of that day, and the profound meanings of sustaining and respecting life. Every forged rose represents one pound of meat that has been harvested and processed to feed my family members and me. It is invaluable to have a connection to the food I consume, the animal and the land it comes from: a beautiful balance that I full heartedly believe in and try to convey to others.