In the Mail

Another (small) batch of rune stones on their way to Traverse City, for the Dennos Museum shop.

Earthy Abstraction

I was very pleased to have "Reading the Runes:Stones of Power" accepted into the Earthy Abstraction show in North Carolina.

A Juried Competition, March 27 – May 16, 2015

Arts Council Galleries at

301 Hay Street, Fayetteville, NC

 

Ellington-White Contemporary Gallery (EWCG) in partnership with the Arts Council Fayetteville/Cumberland County invited artists to submit entries to a juried competition entitled Earthy Abstraction.  This exhibition features artists that work with or incorporate elements of natural materials such as soil, clay, wood, stone and other materials into their visual practice.  The works have a direct connection in theme, texture, and materials with the natural world.

 

Arts Council Gallery Hours
Monday - Thursday: 9 am to 5pm
Friday: 9 am to noon  •  Saturday: noon to 4 pm

The natural materials in this piece include stones, driftwood, an acorn cap, natural indigo dye and rusty metal.

The stones rest on a complex cloth, which I first indigo dyed and rusted. I then did some image transfers and some painting. There are five stones which represent the following powers: Growth, Decay, Drift, Persistence and Ice.

Self - December 2012 Bead Journal Project

A few days late, but 2012 is complete!

My December rune stone represents the force of self-knowledge; if we are willing to evaluate and embrace both our strengths and faults, we can become forces in our own future and lives.

My found object is a small beveled mirror, salvaged from an Edwardian purse - it is quite flawed, only allowing a true reflection in bits and pieces. Our self-knowledge is usually equally flawed, distorted and glimpsed in tiny, isolated portions.

Bands of peyote stitch bind the mirror to the stone - just as we are bound by our flawed perceptions.

2012 is complete, but I don't think I'm finished exploring this concept; expect more rune stones in the future.

A Multitude - November 2012 Bead Journal Project

"A Multitude" is my November rune stone; each stone has been intended to represent a force and this month's force is the power of mass or numbers.

Coral reefs are formed by the calcium carbonate exoskeletons of coral polyps - uncountable numbers of individual living creature in some cases; the Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space! The coral attract other creatures resulting in an elaborate ecosystem involving numerous species - all living together in careful balance.

Working with seed beads is a similar system - each bead is individual and complete, but not of much use in it's singularity. But combine a multitude of them together and the product is certainly more than a sum of the individual parts.

This month's stone is a bit different than previous stones, as the stone itself is the found object. This particular stone is a Petoskey stone, fossilized coral from the ancient reefs which once existed in the shallow seas that covered this part of Michigan. I intentionally left a large portion of the stone uncovered to show the distinctive mottled pattern. 

I tried to emulate this pattern with beads on the bottom of the stone.

The focal point is my representation of a single coral polyp in three dimensional beadwork.

Only one more month to go !!!