40” x 40” x 14” Glassine Paper Sculpture 2026
Wasps are so cool. I got into them because of all the physical work they do. I have ADHD and I'm a doer—I connect with wasps because of all the doing, the busyness and appearance of chaos. That constant motion and purposeful work resonates with me. Everything about them is tangible—they gather wood fibres, chew them up, mix them with saliva to build their nests. They collect nectar (anything sweet really, which is why they're annoying AF around our picnic table) or scavenge meat from dead animals and insects to feed their babies. They're purely analog creatures, analog in itspurest form.
Dwelling is made from glassine paper that I formed around molds using a liquid medium to help keep the hexagonal shape. The cells are pressed tightly together, just like in actual wasp nests, which helps maintain a constant temperature for the larvae to grow into adults.
Homewrecker highlights the work of the outer layers of the nest—the layers that insulate and help maintain that steady environment for the developing larvae. The nest paper in this piece came from an already broken-up wasp nest I found. I wanted to use it in a project, give it new life. It takes wasps a really long time to build their nests, and I wanted to make this work as an ode to that labour. I added to the composition by drawing what the wasp paper looks like with sauce (chalk), capturing those different stripes of colour in their material based on the different types of wood they chewed.
This work is about honouring that labor. I'm drawn to process—I like the act of making and seeing something final come from all that work. I hope people will feel differently about wasps when they see these pieces, that they'll have a new respect for what these creatures build.
40” x 40” x 14” Glassine Paper Sculpture 2026
Wasps are so cool. I got into them because of all the physical work they do. I have ADHD and I'm a doer—I connect with wasps because of all the doing, the busyness and appearance of chaos. That constant motion and purposeful work resonates with me. Everything about them is tangible—they gather wood fibres, chew them up, mix them with saliva to build their nests. They collect nectar (anything sweet really, which is why they're annoying AF around our picnic table) or scavenge meat from dead animals and insects to feed their babies. They're purely analog creatures, analog in itspurest form.
Dwelling is made from glassine paper that I formed around molds using a liquid medium to help keep the hexagonal shape. The cells are pressed tightly together, just like in actual wasp nests, which helps maintain a constant temperature for the larvae to grow into adults.
Homewrecker highlights the work of the outer layers of the nest—the layers that insulate and help maintain that steady environment for the developing larvae. The nest paper in this piece came from an already broken-up wasp nest I found. I wanted to use it in a project, give it new life. It takes wasps a really long time to build their nests, and I wanted to make this work as an ode to that labour. I added to the composition by drawing what the wasp paper looks like with sauce (chalk), capturing those different stripes of colour in their material based on the different types of wood they chewed.
This work is about honouring that labor. I'm drawn to process—I like the act of making and seeing something final come from all that work. I hope people will feel differently about wasps when they see these pieces, that they'll have a new respect for what these creatures build.
