It is March 20, 2018. I'm in the middle of my residency at BOXOProjects in Joshua Tree, California. I have finished constructing my installation Tree of Pain: A Shoot from the Parched Earth in the gallery and am spending time in the landscape, exploring. It is a chilly and windy day, so I go for a hike, climbing the monzogranite outcropping of boulders up to the ridgeline behind the cabin, to see what is on the other side. As I make my way across the piles of rock, wandering, I come upon a piece of coyote scat, placed on the course mineral grains of soil. The dried turd is a matrix of rabbit fur and bones and the piece of a leather glove, stained green. My whole art career can be summed up in this one piece of shit. Coyote knew I was coming and left a turd in place - the by-product of its creation. Since 1991, coyote has taught me well - to continue creating matter out of place.