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Working with pyrography allows me to engage deeply with organic surfaces, using heated metal tips to mark, and engraving to create highlights. Pyrography is an irreversible, archival process; a deliberate pendulum between control and spontaneity. My work is usually moody, ethereal, illustrative realism, this collection represents a deliberate and challenging departure from my signature style by stepping outside my comfort zone to embrace traditional landscapes and challenging perspectives in industrial realism. I wanted to ground my work in the physical textures of the world around us, allowing the natural grain and knots of each piece dictate the flow and composition. This collection, “Burning Memories,” is executed on a single, continuous slab of live-edge Canary wood. By matching the grain and raw edges across multiple panels, the wood itself becomes a timeline. For this series, I learned to manipulate the natural growth rings, deep color variation, and bleeding of the canary wood to render the vast geographies of British Columbia. The wood grain dictates the texture of gravel tracks and bricks, as well as the movement of rushing river currents. Through detailed linework and deep shading, I invite viewers to step off the fast track of modern progression. By guiding the eye backwards through the history of rail travel, this work serves as a visual rejection of today's fast-paced lifestyle. Ultimately, this collection is both a journey into the past and a personal testament to the progression of society as a whole.

This three-piece collection explores the friction between societal progression and the human desire to return to what was more simple. Showing a visual rejection of today’s fast paced society, a nostalgic journey backwards through time. This collection is physically and conceptually unified by a triptych design: all burned into live-edge canary wood, sourced from a local plywood store, the natural edges of the slab match up when displayed in order, side by side.

Piece 1 - “Return to Antiquity”

Visual: Fine, detailed linework depicts a modern locomotive entering into a dark tunnel, set against the striking backdrop of the BC mountains. Deep charcoal shading creates a heavy, dramatic focal point around the engine.

Narrative: This opening piece captures the engine 3193, a modern, 21st-century CN diesel locomotive train, that regularly hauls freight trains across North America. By capturing the train at the exact moment it enters the tunnel, the artwork symbolizes a deliberate departure from the modern world, and an entry into the subconscious space of memory.

Piece 2 - “Iron Resonance”

Visual: A strong sense of motion dominates the frame, showcasing a mid-century passenger train racing through the very same tunnel.

Narrative: The middle piece represents the speed of societal advancement. Here the timeline fractures: what was a modern freight train from the first piece has transformed into a mid-century passenger train. Emerging further into the tunnel, representing a deeper descent into the past. The natural grain of the canary wood is strategically leveraged to layer gravel and pull it into motion.

Piece 3 - “The Last train home”

Visual: Intricate linework featuring an antique steam engine crossing a brick viaduct, over the Fraser river, with native BC salmon visible in the waters below.

Narrative: The narrative concludes with a total return to history. The contemporary train from the beginning of the series has fully reverted to ancestral form: a vintage steam engine. Using a fine-tip burner to create crisp, delicate textures, this final piece contrasts the industrial steel of the past, with the precious life of the river ecosystem, finding peace in what once was.