As Ptolemy described it, chorography is an exploration of the intimate pieces of our world, as opposed to geography, which involves its entirety. It is a creative way of looking at, and mapping, small parts of our earth.

These pieces were created at Ucross, Wyoming. This area was once underwater and was called the Niobraran Sea, or the Western Interior Seaway. The landscape has been shaped by water, or the lack of water, over many millennia.

I am enchanted by this landscape and how within it people have carved out a life. Many people identify strongly with the ocean, but as a land-locked westerner, the prairie landscape is my “ocean.” These intimate three-dimensional carved and modeled landscapes are an exercise in understanding how parts of the landscape connect and help shape the overall aesthetic of the land. The process reveals the practicality of human intervention into the landscape, and the peculiar beauty of these shapes and forms created from the perspective of function over form.