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For artist Faye Foster, it's hard to put thoughts, feelings and wonderment about the mysteries of life into words. That's why she turns to sculpture to visually capture the human emotions everyone experiences.

At the Green Hill Center's "Regrowth" exhibition, Foster's work is right at home with eight other artists whose work captures nature, death and renewal.

"It's for anybody who has any sorrows," said Foster of Winston-Salem "And that means it's for everybody."

When Foster was invited to join "Regrowth," she was immediately drawn to the exhibition's themes.

She said she has always felt a sense of wonder at being in the presence of nature, so natural elements are key to her art.

"Nature is something you really can't speak of in words," Foster said. "You just have to stand back and be overwhelmed by it."

Foster's connection to nature inspires her to use found natural objects in her sculpture, such as sticks, leaves or pieces of wood. She also relies on other recycled materials, including burlap sacks she got from the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem when they were about to throw them out.

Her fascination with nature and all its mysteries began in her childhood. Foster grew up in northern Florida near the cypress swamps and was taken with the sense of beauty and danger she found from spending time in the wild. Her vivid memories of that time in her life, from the way the light hit the edge of a spring or the pale green color and long tails of luna moths, are reflected in her art.

"It gave me a setting for viewing life and creating the work that I do now," Foster said.

Foster grew to appreciate music and art from her mother, a musician, and her father, who built and designed houses and gardens. She said her parents instilled in her a knack for problem solving that she applies to her work every day. She has a m aster's degree in English and also does drawing, painting and photography, but her desire to build things led her to sculpture.

"I came to see how much I enjoyed expressing things in a tangible way," Foster said.

Foster said she has learned a great deal just by looking around and observing her surroundings, but her artistic education also comes from travel ing. She has lived in Florida, Washington, Atlanta and Boston and has now lived in Winston-Salem for 26 years, the longest she has ever been in one place.

She is also inspired by African, Oceanic and South American cultures and is interested in Peruvian textiles that depict people, animals and historical events. Her grandmother's oral history of the South contributed to her love of storytelling, and each of her sculptures tells some kind of story about nature, spirituality or the human experience.

Foster has a number of projects in her head that she wants to work on once "Regrowth" ends its run on Aug. 24, but she doesn't want to give too much away.

"I've come to realize that if you talk about it too much before you start it, sometimes you never start it," Foster said.

In whatever she does, Foster hopes to continue her own personal education and communicate what she's learned to others.

"I hope the process of looking at these things and recording what I see will help me better understand those stages of life that we all go through," Foster said. "And I hope by making what I do public, it will help other people think about those processes and appreciate life for all it is."

Contact Alexa Milan at 373-7081 or Alexandra.Milan@news-record.com.