What’s the largest craft sculpture you’ve ever created, and where is it displayed now?

That’s a wonderful question! The largest craft sculpture I’ve ever created is a towering installation titled “The Weaving of Skies,” standing 28 feet tall and spanning nearly 40 feet in width. It’s made entirely from hand-lathed recycled wood, dyed natural fibers, and thousands of individually carved ceramic leaves, each fired and glazed by hand.

The sculpture now lives permanently in the central plaza of the Bayside Cultural Park in Portland, Oregon, where it interacts beautifully with the changing sunlight. During the day, the ceramic leaves catch the light like living gems, and at night, subtle LED strips embedded in the wood weave glow and shift in gentle patterns, mimicking the movement of clouds.

What makes this piece particularly close to my heart is how it invites people to walk through it—literally under its canopy—and sit on the curved benches that form its base. Children often lie on the ground to look up, and I’ve seen couples propose there. It feels less like “my sculpture” and more like a shared space where the community meets nature and craft.

Building it took an entire year of collaborative work with a small team of five artisans. We sourced reclaimed wood from old barns in the Pacific Northwest, dyed natural cotton and hemp from regional farms, and fired the ceramics in a kiln powered by renewable energy. Every leaf and every knot in the wood was placed with intention.

That sculpture taught me that the biggest craft isn’t just about scale—it’s about connection. And seeing people gather beneath it, talking, laughing, or simply sitting in silence, is the most rewarding part of being an artist.