There was a time in my life when I lived in the city. The ground around me was often concrete or grass. It’s not my natural habitat. My antidote was to head to the mountains. To always look up at the lofty summits of the Cascade Mountains.

To climb to the highest points and feel the rare air of removal from the drudgery of urbanity and a life at sea-level. My daily existence was in the city, but my heart and mind were in the hills.

Every opportunity I had to escape, I ran to the mountains to find the medicine that would make another week in the concrete jungle more meaningful. 

When my son Cedar was born, I felt an immediate pull to move our family out of the city, to give him the experience of growing up surrounded by trees, learning to love the earth as a teacher, a provider and the ultimate playground.

In short, I wanted him to have the upbringing I enjoyed as a child on a gravel road in the woods outside of Woodinville, which set me on a path of connectedness with nature that I’ve never strayed from for long. 

In 2015, we were fortunate to find a perfect home for our family on 3 forested acres in Fall City.

While the pull of the mountains is still strong, more and more I find myself growing deep roots in the forests closer to home. To ground down as I grow up. My ever increasing connection to the earth has pulled my consciousness and my vision downward to realize that a small patch of previously unremarkable forested ground can hold wonders that rival the wild aesthetics of the high mountains, as each spring, the understory explodes out of dormancy, revealing infinite shades of green and spectacular patterns with immense depth. 

These amazing arrays of intricate form are often only inches off the ground, and may be at a scale that is inconvenient for close observation. A primary job of the artist is to serve as a conduit between the viewer, and that which can be challenging to observe. In this case, it means that I have wandered the forest floor on my hands and knees so that you don’t have to. 

By increasing the scale of these natural wonders, and hanging them on a wall at eye level, I hope to lower the barrier to entry for the appreciation of the magic carpet that lays across the forest floor of the Pacific Northwest. Once observed, and truly appreciated, that which lays underfoot in the forest will never again be ignored, just as a great gift will be forever cherished. 

Captured in the forests of the Snoqualmie Valley, and photographed with a macro lens using natural ambient lighting, these large-format photographic tapestries serve to bring the outdoors inside, in hopes that it will inspire those who are inside, to step out, look down, breathe deep, and give thanks. 

Terrestrial tapestries

opens april 18th

Please come join is in the celebration of spring.

Snacks & Libations start at 5pm

Scott Rinckenberger Gallery

106 W North Bend Way, North Bend