Thesis
Active documentation of my MFA Thesis in the Sculpture Program at SUNY New Paltz.
White-tailed deer embrace duality in a compelling dichotomy as pest and quarry in New York state. Since September 2025, I have built connections with communities of varying academic and pragmatic kinship with white-tailed deer to better understand this species' presence. We must covet them as equal, living beings and continue to seek and strength relationships with those who share a similar kinship.
This project culminates in May 2026, and this particular page will develop into a more cohesive thought at that time. I am (in the process of) producing a stab-bound book built from white-tailed deer buckskin, white-tailed deer parchment, white and red oak book boards, artificial sinew, and iron gall ink. The book will become a vessel to narrate my experience, and exist as an object for the people who have contributed to and made this project possible. For now, this page serves as a marker of what I am doing.
Acknowledgement of those who have contributed their time, knowledge, and excitement to my project is crucial. I would not know how to gut and skin, produce buckskin and parchment, or know the dangers of CWD, Lyme disease, or white-tailed deer's ecological impact without these conversations and friendships.
Thank you to...
NYDEC Hunter Education Instructors at Marbletown Sportsmen's Club
Ulster County Deer Hunters:
Dustin Lamberta (Mentor)
Randy Oakes
Tom Rinaldi
Scientists:
Krysten Schuler (Cornell University)
Thom Almendinger (Teatown Preserve)
Erin Snyder (Teatown Preserve)
Eva Giorgi (Teatown Preserve)
Maddy Schroeder (Teatown Preserve)
Tanners:
Jesse Myers (Pergamena)
Dave Zirilli (Pergamena)
