Miriam Carpenter
For the Ones Who Stayed, 2025

Materials: Highly Figured Spalted Maple Burl, Cherry, Brass

The title, For the Ones Who Stayed, speaks to both the life of the tree and the human experience it mirrors. It honors what endures through difficulty, what engages even when challenged, what listens instead of turning away. It is for the ones who remain present—who look closely, who care, who allow themselves to be moved.

The piece begins with the maple burl itself—a piece of wood shaped by stress and healing. Its rare greens, golds, and wild figuring hold the story of a life that persisted, and the work honors that resilience.

Much of my practice begins with a longing to reveal what is often hidden—the quiet, intricate biological, emotional, or ecological systems that weave through life. This burl embodies that complexity. Its beauty is not accidental; it emerges from a lifetime of interactions—with the wind, sun, soil, and water, with other plants in its ecosystem, and with the microbial community that continues to shape it after it falls. This ongoing process of transformation alters chemistry, structure, and color in ways that reveal survival, adaptation, and deep interconnectedness.

The form of the piece reflects my practice. The half-domed base, turned on the lathe and ebonized, creates a grounded presence, while the brass cleats lift the burl so subtly that it appears to float. That slight levitation creates an opening—changing a room the way opening a shuttered window does—allowing an elsewhere to enter and expanding what the space can hold.

Ultimately, the work cultivates a moment of connection: with the material, with the unseen systems that shaped it, and with the viewers’ own memories. It invites a slower kind of attention—one that recognizes beauty not as something pristine, but as something forged through relationship, time, and quiet resilience.