Tectonic Scars Series

So, it's been a while, and I think I should be posting more often, I'm going to attempt to make one post a week, every Wednesday from now on, so I can keep on top of what's going on, and maybe convince myself to work more, because when I'm working, I'm happy.

So, here's some pictures of tiles I've been working on for a while, there are pictures of them up on Etsy and my website, but they're not here really (a few pictures a few posts back, but that's it) and they should be.

It's called the "Tectonic Scars" series. I haven't written about them, really yet, so that's definitely on the "to do" list. Simply, they are 10cm x 10cm tiles, in red and white, engraved. Some (like those in the pictures below) use a silver leaf reaction bullseye reactive white opal to get the earth-toned patch.

It's been difficult for me to write about them because they have a lot of (maybe too many) layers of meaning for me, and I often feel a little guilty about sources of inspiration and the way those meanings can overlap. I started making these just after the earthquake happened in Japan in March, they are both a visceral reaction to that event, and an expression of where I was emotionally (for unrelated reasons) at the time. I was really not in a good place personally, and was reading letters over and over that I really should have deleted and forgotten. Reading old letters feels like cutting around old scars. It's a bad habit I have. So, I identified with what the earth was doing, mentally and emotionally; I felt like I was doing a similar thing. Shaking, grinding, tearing, trying to stand when the ground was not still, and causing a huge amount of personal destruction at the same time.

This cut reminds me of muscle tissue (is not inspired by, just makes me think of), and the tiles have a feeling of being exposed and raw, like in focusing on a wound, everything that could have been healthy gets repeatedly cut away.

So, they come at an intersection of geography, biology, and inner turmoil; and I still haven't figured out how to write what I feel about them in a way that works.

An awesome thing: the panel including three tiles below was given to the Canadian Ambassador to Belgium as a gift this year when he came to Luxembourg for Canada day.