Monuments matter. They are the physical record of who we are, what we value, and who we choose to remember. Whether they honor the sacrifice of military service members, mark a moment in a community’s history, or celebrate a person whose life made a difference, monuments give permanence to things that deserve to last. That is not a small responsibility, and I don’t treat it as one.
Building a monument requires a different kind of attention than any other project I take on. The creative and structural demands are the same as any large-scale build, but the weight of what the finished piece represents changes how you approach every decision. The materials have to be right. The scale has to be right. The feeling it produces in the people who stand in front of it has to be right. When all of those things come together, the result is something that a community will gather around for generations.
I am proud of the monument work I have done, and I take seriously the trust that comes with being handed a story worth telling in stone and steel. If you have a project that deserves to be built with that level of care and commitment, I would be honored to be part of it.
• Watchung 9/11 Memorial, Watchung, New Jersey
• Corpsman Memorial Project, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, CA
