This section features sculptures made between 1970 and 1990. The early Ritual Nuggets are organic, womb or seed-like forms representing stages in the development of consciousness, spiritual awareness, and enlightenment. The Raku-fired pieces are grouped as one sculpture. I consider them contemplative, meditative objects. They were also used ritually when friends were celebrating important dates, being reunited, separated, and so forth. In these cases, they were distributed to others to make tangible our connections of the heart and spirit. The concept also evolved through etchings, found objects, and impermanent materials (such as snow, used to celebrate the process of change). The forms have developed dramatically until the present day, adding new layers of content to explore.
The next pieces "Homage to the Sunstone," shown in the 1975 Santa Fe MFA Bienniel, and others from the mid-'70s include: "Ritual Games" of pit-fired clay, "Growth Rings," of steel and Silver Lace vine, and the ten-piece series "El Valle Nuggets." They are followed by three "Fragments" pieces from the 1990's that combine discarded, carved architectural elements with digital scans of the pieces themselves. Stoneware "Folds," and "Banners" of marbleized red and white clay follow. The "Eco-Animal sculptures were fabricated using plywood (and one in steel).
The Eco Animal project grew out of the environmental movement of the 1970's. At the same time that we were developing functional alternate energy solutions (See Books, The Solar Greenhouse), these fantasy animals represented many other alternatives. You will also see them in the Drawings and Digital Print pages. The Hovering Hogcraft (right), Trashmaster Toad, Tortuga Mobile Condo Complex, et al, were eventually to meet in the book Adventure to Eco Earth: Eco Animals!
The following pieces were made from driftwood and beach stones from Crescent City, California in 2018. Temporary projects on the beaches are also documented.
