Waste
waste
aN installation examining physical and spiritual matter
2014. Five mannequins, five headdresses. This installation was made to honor Mama Gaia and her Earth Spirits, and to challenge the material notion of what art can be. The natural materials that I used were gathered directly from the land. Anything I didn’t gather from the land came from the recycling or what would have otherwise been deemed waste. Nothing was purchased. Materials include paper, fabric, shells, buttons, feathers, spices, plants, and aluminum pop-tops. To honor frog, butterfly, turkey, peacock, cedar, moss, fern, lichen, rose, amaranth, flax, cotton, silk, hemp, cedar, alder, cottonwood, turmeric, chile, cinnamon, paprika, wheat, abalone, and, you know, Mama Gaia. Thanks to Skagit Building Salvage for letting me play with their mannequins!
It was a group exhibit at Campus Gallery of Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Washington. The artwork on the walls were other artists’ as well as my own. This show set a foundation for me as an artist both in its use of material and its subjective integration with spirituality. The feather headdress came out of a class assignment whereby we had to make a work of art that was entirely non-toxic. The idea of non-toxic art has inspired my process and creations ever since.
