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.

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 !!!

Transport - October 2012 Bead Journal Project

When I first started this project, I intentionally did not research the ancient rune stones, as I did not want to be influenced by tradition - yet two of my stones ended up exactly following the traditional!

The first was my January stone: Ice. The second is this month's stone Transport or Horse.

The Horse is a rune of travel and change; it may indicate a spiritual journey and the need for faith in your own destiny.

When this rune is reversed, it warns of a restlessness and a desire to escape by traveling or moving away from the problem - a passage away from pain.

On Mackinac, the horse is an integral part of the lifestyle, serving to transport both people and freight. Yet the horses themselves have a routine of transport, traveling to the mainland each fall and returning in the spring - a potent symbol of seasonal change.

I struggled with an appropriate found object for this particular stone, but when our new kitten broke a small horse figurine, I had my horse representation!

This grouping, my January - October stones,  was one of several pieces I exhibited at Crooked Tree Arts Center as part of their Artists of Mackinac Island show - and it sold!

Decay - May 2012 Bead Journal Project

 My rune stone for May is "Decay" - very much complementary to my April piece "Growth".

Decay is yet another force that on the surface seems negative; yet imagine a world where nothing decayed - "stuff" of every kind, piling up around us, nothing breaking down and being reused - life would simply be unlivable,  as life on earth is based on smaller organisms breaking down the larger and creating nutrients as a byproduct. Many of the agents of decay are not terribly attractive, but some are quite beautiful, like the fungus that dot the forest floor each autumn,

Decay is just another form of transformation, neither positive or negative, just necessary!

  

I have again used a Mackinac beach stone as a base, with another beach find as my focal piece - some kind of rusty widget. I especially like the little pebble wedged in the bend. I made sure the base stone was visible through the hole in the widget.

I created a bezel using yet more decayed items - Victorian era cut steel beads from an old evening bag; I love the mix of rust and shine. They are also a good example of my own personal transformation - I began beading by reproducing Edwardian beaded evening bags and have now moved in a completely different direction.

On the back is another rusty bit, with lovely patina, roughly wired into place.

I showed this to an artist friend of mine and was surprised when she described it as "dainty" - what do you think? 

Growth - Bead Journal Project April 2012

 My rune stone for April is "Growth" or perhaps "Potential" - I'm having trouble deciding, but in a way they represent the same concept, for only when we grow can we reach our full potential.

Growth is easiest when the conditions are ideal, but suboptimal conditions can also stimulate growth - think of a plant growing long and lanky to reach the sun and only blooming once it reaches the nourishing rays.

The focal point of my stone is an acorn cap, found beneath the oak tree in our yard - from small beginnings grows the mighty oak! I created a beaded bezel in greens and browns and continued the beading in two drop peyote in brown beads, to represent soil.



A good portion of the bottom is open, so the base beach stone can be seen. There is a a smattering of green beads and copper wire "rootlets", to further represent the need to stretch or reach out in order to grow. 

I'm really very pleased at how my rune stones are coming together; they've been such a pleasure to work and it's really, really hard to believe I'm a third of the way through this project - eight more to go!

Fossilization - Bead Journal Project March 2012

My rune stone for March is "Fossilization".

As I progress with this project, it seems that my runes are tending to have multiple meanings and that is also the case with this one.

"Fossil" is a term sometimes used for people who are old or perhaps those who cling to dated attitudes - it's certainly not a compliment!

But consider the forces that create a fossil - over eons of time, minerals replace organic tissue. Pure luck is a large factor, the plant or animal needed to die in just the right environment. Fossils are actually incredibly rare; only a infinitesimal number of the organisms that have existed through the ages will be found in the fossil record.

Humans have been discovering fossils throughout time and the interpretations of those finds have changed over time, ranging from mythical dragons to "giants of the earth" to out current scientific thoughts - will time bring further theories? 

My rune stone focal is a fossil found here on Mackinac, probably some type of sea creature that once lived in the ancient sea that formerly  covered this area.

My color palette is based on the colors of limestone, a variety of greys and used beads of varying sizes and finishes.

If you look closely, I tried to incorporate coral fossil forms in the beadwork. I once again left areas on the back open to allow the base stone to be visible.  

I photographed this particular rune stone sitting on a very large fossil ammonite my husband found as a child.

My overall interpretation for this rune is positive - a rare phenomenon, a beautiful object, a lucky find. But it does include a mild cautionary component, a reminder to not allow ourselves to become too rigid in our thoughts and attitudes less we become set in stone.