Emergent Features Barnes Jewish Hospital,  St Louis, MO 5' x 4'x 4' Painted Metal 2026

This sculpture was initially conceived as a paper installation. The artist began by cutting and reshaping paper, experimenting with positive and negative space to create a form that held both lightness and complexity. This paper sculpture became the foundation for the Aluminum version, retaining its essence while transforming materially. Throughout the process, the artist explored both the contrasts and echoes between paper and metal: softness and strength, impermanence and durability. Aluminum was chosen for its lightness and its responsive quality, its ability to subtly shift, move, and react to the surrounding environment. Several alloys and thicknesses were tested during the process to achieve the precise balance of strength, delicacy, and movement that the piece required. These two very different materials come together to embody the tension and connection between the physical and the spiritual, and the layered wholeness of what makes up a life.

Hospitals are traditionally spaces for healing the physical body. Increasingly, we understand that the body is also a reflection of the inner spirit. The fluid movements of the original papercuts, now translated into light, shadow, and metal interplay with the rigidity of the metallic cutouts. This juxtaposition speaks to resilience: the ability to flow around obstacles, to shift form, and to adapt. The piece becomes a metaphor for the ongoing transformation of the self, and for the strength found in collective care, a reflection of the supportive, interwoven community that defines this site.