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| COLUMN OF TEARS The general title for these Architectural Ceramic works, "Column of Tears" comes from an actual Byzantine column located in the cistern of Istanbul, Turkey. When I first saw the column 2001 the image triggered an emotional response in me, but it wasn't until I saw my aunt in Prague during an electrical rain-storm and power outage that I knew that I must work with these forms. My own personal obsession with tears since childhood related, I think, to a disjointed family history with roots in politics and culture. It was revived during this meeting in 2004. The tears flowed nonstop. And it seemed that the natural world set the stage for this body of work that is both personal and public. In Greek architecture each column represents a specific person or state. In my work each column represents a specific emotional response to a political event, personal experience or memory. The capital of the column creates the context while the drops form the flutes of the column and the base grounds the sculpture. The clay drops initially referring to tears have become oil, blood, sweat, buds, pods; the essence of the man, nature, heaven and hell. Some of the pieces are more like chandeliers or mobiles but I still refer to them as columns since their origin is the column. Each drop is individually created by hand -- no molds are used. Other elements are sometimes used to inform the work. I use a variety of clay, glazes and overglazes to bring life to these ceramic pieces. MOUSE OVER THUMBNAILS TO REVEAL IMAGES |
