“The first time I picked up a hammer to forge a bar of steel, I was not thinking about queerness or gender, or anything profound for that matter. I wanted to hit hot metal and I wanted to make art. I wanted to make something I had drawn and hold it in my hands.

Suffice to say it became a habit, and eventually I did start to think about what blacksmithing, and now metalsmithing, means to me as a queer person. It gave me a deep sense of personal power to learn to shape steel with my hands, and in thinking through why I felt so empowered by such a traditionally hypermasculine craft, I found a lot of clarity and understanding of myself and my gender identity.

I don't consider my queerness a driving force in the media I choose to work in, nor do I always choose to make work that explicitly expresses commentary about queerness, but I believe that all artists imbue their work with the context of their lives, sometimes beyond the strict intention or purpose of the work."