Featured in Gulfshore Life: When Shell Art Becomes Architecture

There is a fireplace surround in a Sanibel home that stops people in their tracks.

From across the room, it reads as a pale floral relief — dense, rhythmic, almost lace-like in its detail. Move closer and the petals reveal themselves: nassa shells, common creepers, and bubble shells, each placed by hand. At its center, a sunflower. Around it, butterflies — symbols chosen by the homeowner to honor her late sister, whose collected shells are woven into the piece itself.

This is the work that Gulfshore Life Magazine featured in their April 2026 issue, and it is perhaps the most personal commission I have ever created.

From the Ten Thousand Islands to Architectural Installations

My journey with shells began in 2020 on the shores of the Ten Thousand Islands — a date, a handful of shells, and a creative pull I finally allowed myself to follow. What started as experimentation on a kitchen table became Shellscapes®: geometric, low-relief wall works built through repetition, precision, and an almost meditative process.

What Gulfshore Life captured so beautifully is how that process has evolved. The early pieces resembled mosaics — sparse, mandala-like arrangements. Over time I began filling the negative space, organizing shells into repeating structures where each species plays a specific role. Ribbed cockles build dense layered fields. Spiraled screws anchor radial bursts. Tusks create depth and the illusion of movement.

Nearly monochromatic, the work derives its power not from color but from relief, rhythm, and repetition.

The Work Behind the Work

What most people don't see is what goes into a single piece.

My largest panel — 60 by 80 inches — required 40 pounds of shells. Most works use between 15 and 20 pounds of material and demand up to 100 hours of handwork. Every composition begins as a sketch. The shells are then glued onto fine neutral linen mounted on panel, each one placed with a cotton swab to maintain precision.

Though they are framed and wall-mounted, Shellscapes function like architectural surfaces — interrupting flat walls with dimension and texture that changes with the light.

Six works aboard the Mein Schiff Relax cruise ship were mounted directly onto structural columns, transforming functional supports into focal points. The Sanibel fireplace was fabricated in three sections, assembled on site, inspired by the space itself.

"My whole process is about this meditative aspect," I told Gulfshore Life. That hasn't changed — and it never will.

What This Feature Means

Being recognized by Gulfshore Life — a publication that covers the very world my work lives in — feels like a full circle moment. From a kitchen table to installations for The Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, and TUI Cruises, this journey has been anything but linear.

I am deeply grateful to writer Lauren Amalia Redding for telling this story with such care, and to everyone who has commissioned, collected, and championed this work over the past five years.

Read the full feature at Gulfshore Life → gulfshorelife.com