The works included in Specter of an Ancestor are made of burnt Torrey pines. Torrey pine is a rare species of tree that grows only in California, not far from Schneider’s home of Joshua Tree. When speaking on the desert landscapes of California to Curate Joshua Tree in 2017, Schneider clarified, “There is a spiritual hum here that I’ve never felt anywhere else. I think that in this area in particular, the veil to the other realms of consciousness is very thin, you can sort of see the other side on a daily basis.” While recalling Cubist visual archetypes set by artists like Pablo Picasso, as well as the sub-Saharan African masks Picasso was influenced by, Schneider’s sculptures simultaneously speak to a uniquely intuitive process that is guided by the aforementioned “spiritual hum”.