Collecting has been an impulse of mine since I was able to walk. I grew up exploring the hidden spaces of Alaska and Wyoming. Pretty rocks or dried pieces of flora connected me to the landscape through the linings of my pockets. My family, ever the explorers, mined for gold and gemstones and taught me to look closer at things that seemed dull or unimportant. Now, as a goldsmith, the definition of precious is very different to me than when I was girl. I find myself struggling to reconcile the materials that I work with every day and their monetary worth with what I personally find to be valuable. As a solution, I push myself to use the techniques that I might reserve for fine jewelry on conceptual art that has no value to anyone besides myself. I hope that through the continuous reshaping of metal I might stumble upon something that feels as familiar to me as one of the places I still call home.