I am interested in the emphasis that American culture places on amassing stuff in pursuit of happiness and the ironic emptiness to which it leads. My research explores trends of mass-production, habits of consumption, and systems of artifice and authenticity. The materials that motivate me most are home goods deemed stylistically obsolete by current mainstream standards. This is specific to mass-produced domestic objects depicting nature; particularly the relationship those objects have to their intended function and the façade they project. The interactions between these things with their previous domestic landscape is a spring-board to how they can be reinvigorated, undermining their mass-produced and artificial origins to create something authentic. This type of work explores the potential of textiles’ inherent collaborative nature in an era that increasingly lacks human interaction. Making connections to people, objects, and the households from which they came subverts both the stuff’s and the culture’s isolative qualities. Island is part of a series of tapestries and knotless netted sculpture, which is informed by the resourceful history of rag rug making.