Near the Delaware Water Gap is New Jersey’s Kittatinny Ridge, a long mountain ridgeline that rises about 1000 feet above the surrounding land–and where I once found myself during an unnervingly impressive lightning storm. In that region of New Jersey lies the southernmost glacial lake along the Appalachian Trail: Sunfish Pond. The 44-acre tarn is simply beautiful, with still waters and mountain laurel growing along its shore. I sought to honor this peaceful corner of the trail by recreating it in wool.

“Sunfish Pond” (20″x16″, 2018) is a meditation on the history of the Appalachian Mountains, an ancient mountain range that formed eons ago and has slowly eroded–in part because of the glaciers that left behind Sunfish Pond. In the felting, the day is clear, with a light blue sky and a few small clouds. Along the distant rocky shore, the wooded ridge continues northward. In the foreground, the Appalachian Trail clambers over well-worn rocks. The focus of the felting, the eponymous lake, reflects both the distant shore and the passing clouds, a fleeting moment in these venerable highlands.

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