(upbeat music) - I really like using found materials because it's a great way to teach that you can make art out of anything.

It could have another life.

This is a bristle from a street sweeper.

I've been collecting 'em for like 30 years.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) So these are perfect.

They're still really flexible.

They're not brittle yet and these would be perfect for wrapping around one of the nests.

I wish I could use this ivy.

I love the idea of using something that people don't want.

The project that I'm currently working on is called "God's Eye," and it's a series of 150 nests.

I picked the number 150 because that's the number of bird species that will be saved from extinction if we do something about carbon emissions right now.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) The basic structure of the nest is street sweeper bristles.

It was a very exciting moment when I realized I finally had something interesting to do with them.

All right, so one thing that is really important to me to see the voice of the natural material, so I kind of like the way this branch wants to just go off on its own.

I think this was strapping around something I ordered.

So then I'll look through materials and find different colors that are complementary, different textures that are complementary.

I'm sort of like, what would a bird do?

(laughs) (gentle music) And then it has some of my art in there, this maybe.

I decided to do this project because I had just read this article in "The New York Times" about how they're just finding more and more human detritus in actual birds' nests, including things like anti-bird spikes.

I've often returned to themes in my art of the humans and nature struggle.

(gentle music continues) In the center of each of my nests is an eye.

I think the effect of the eye looking at you makes you think about your place in the waste stream.

(machinery rumbling) I come from a long line of woodworkers.

My grandfather and great-grandfather were ranchers, but they always had a wood shop.

(wood chunks rattling) Sometimes you just have to let the wood speak to you and decide what it's going to be.

I love that.

I could see using this.

It's almost bird shaped.

My grandfather carved this sculpture.

I just really love it.

It's a great example of 1930s' style.

My great-grandfather was a clock maker as a hobby.

(whimsical music) I've got bicycle valve caps, (laughs) tire valves.

I don't know, I just save things.

The Goodwill bins are a great place to just find weird discarded things.

Here, this is my prized possession, this collection of supposedly wolf teeth.

When I was still in art school, somebody gave 'em to me.

He just bought a jar of them at some scary garage sale.

I found this big stash of pencils and I thought, oh, that'd be really interesting to embed them in just as a little design element but not have it be too obvious.

I'm more interested when a found object is subtly placed.

I think it gives the viewer something to discover and also to talk about.

(pensive music) (pensive music continues) I also really love when a found object inclusion makes somebody look a little closer.

(pensive music continues) When I use found objects in work, like this old fuse, it's often the last thing I think of.

Maybe it just needs something else at the end.

(birds twittering) (wings humming) I am drawn to birds for several reasons.

One is they're just iconic as a form.

I never get tired of exploring shape and posture, but I'm also drawn to birds just because I like them.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) It's really important to draw, even though I don't take my sketchbook in the studio ever, it really stays in the house, 'cause I feel like my art is too rigid if I make what I've drawn.

I'll start with cutting my shapes and then I'll have the fabricator cut multiples for me out of aluminum.

One of my favorite shapes that I really like.

(band saw rumbling) I love figuring out stuff and I love working with my hands.

(whimsical music) My parents ran a craft gallery when I was in my teens and 20s in Eugene, Oregon.

That was amazingly influential because, not only could I start to sell my work there, I could also meet a lot of other artists.

But I've just really felt so moved my entire life by the art others made, and that's just all I want to do (laughs) is just make art.

(stately music) (stately music continues) (stately music continues) One of my favorite projects was the "Wishing Trees" I did for the Ronald McDonald Houses of Portland, Eugene, and Bend.

- Hilary's art is so playful and fun and interactive.

Her use of animals makes the "Wishing Tree" here, and really many of her art pieces, so connected to place, to Oregon, to our community.

(stately music continues) - It's been very meaningful to get to work projects that are designed to help people in need.

- When a family is facing the serious illness of their child, they are desperately in need of hope, moments of joy and peace.

I absolutely think Hilary's work brings healing.

(stately music continues) (stately music continues) (stately music continues) (stately music continues) (gentle whimsical music) - I make art because I simply don't have a choice.

Without art, I would cry forever.

(giggles) Sorry.

I really hope that the art that outlasts my lifetime will continue to make people happy and bring them joy and comfort.

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