Ghost Forest is inspired by the evolving landscape surrounding Madison, Wisconsin and how that evolution is directly linked to interaction with human populations from pre-colonization to the present. The forms reference the bark structures of Bur Oak and Black Locust that are easily identifiable all over the campus and have specific links to both the prairie / post-prairie landscape and the development of modern ecological thought at UW Madison by figures such as John Muir and Aldo Leopold.
The artwork consists of five, hollowed-out, upright forms built from layers of folded weathering steel plate.  The five forms are totemic and monumental; their arrangement references the natural and architectural structures that define public spaces.  Individually, they are chimeric; the pattern of the folded steel plate surface changes its apparent solidity as one moves past the sculptures lending a fluidity and delicacy that stands in contrast to the visual weight of the massive forms.

Renderings by Henry Cowdery