About half of my work focuses on the lifespan of flowering plants. I call my cotton pieces “Needle Roses” because of how difficult the crop is to harvest by hand. Although I grew up in a Southern town surrounded by tobacco fields, I did not see a cotton field until I was an adult. It’s surprising to see an entirely white field in a countryside that never gets snow. I knew the crop’s history in the South. I didn’t know the plant had such beautiful purple and pink blossoms in addition to that strange pod of fluffy fibers. The way it transforms the landscape is practically alien. To explore the subject of cotton is to consider how it has come to represent the shared history of people on opposite sides of power. Cotton is a hard subject. You don’t see a lot of artists choosing it because you have to be prepared for the conversations that must come with it. Farmers in Crisp County, Georgia, are kind enough to keep me stocked with stalks of cotton. At times it looks a like a miniature cotton field in my studio. The cuttings last a long time. After viewing pieces from my Needle Rose series someone said that they didn’t realize cotton could be beautiful. It’s understandable. It took me a long time to see the beauty in cotton.