Walter Ory Studios

Radiant Arrays 

I’ve lived in a lot of places over the years—growing up in the Western U.S., residing in New York, East Africa and Southeast Asia for extended periods, and now living near Geneva, Switzerland. Travel and exploration are lifelong pursuits. Wherever I’ve lived, I keep returning to the same inspirations—forests, mountains, oceans and the way natural patterns connect to the landscape architecture projects and practical building work I enjoy. 

I started experimenting with wood, nails, and colored wax in the early 2000s. The use of nails in my work was influenced in some part by Günther Uecker’s innovations, a link made more personal through my sister's (Kathy Klein-IG:@kathydanmala) and niece's (Seffa Klein-IG@seffaklein) connections to his family. My first pieces helped me understand how much I enjoyed working with repeated forms and natural materials. Over time, my ideas kept circling back to light, structure, and the patterns that appear when simple elements interact.

My current work began during the pandemic. Like a lot of people, I was craving something grounding and physical. I started making larger pieces—radial patterns, angled grids, clusters of nails that catch and shape light. Once I saw how shadows could transform a wall or a room, the whole direction of my art shifted.

Radiant Arrays grew out of that moment. Today my pieces continue to explore how light moves, how structure can feel alive, and how something made from basic materials can create a sense of quiet, warmth and depth. My hope is that the work feels both familiar and unexpected—rooted in the natural world, but open to wherever your eye or imagination wants to go.

In addition to my artwork, another passion is my off-grid living and climate adaptive projects conducted on forested plots owned in the Northeast U.S. (Adaptation Forest) and an island off the coast of Nova Scotia (Adaptation Island).