REACHING FOR THE MOON (2017-2018)
As technology increasingly entwines our lives, sometimes the closest we get to meaningful contact with nature is the cotton or silk shirt or dress we put on in the morning. This hand-sewn series of artworks is made from discarded moth cocoons sourced from Asian silk factories. In "We Will All Be Present For The Rebirth," 2017 (above), Cricula Trifenestrata cocoons that were boiled to extract the silk have been sewn together using linen covered wire, and then the organic overcoats are used to cover Bombyx mori cocoons, still in their larval stage. The golden cocoons (their natural color) have an unexpected, ethereal glow, transforming and elevating the materials' cast-off status. A similar transformation is evoked in "The Seeds Were Laid Long Ago," 2017-2018 (below) and "Relearning How to Fly," 2017 (below). For both pieces, thousands of cocoons have been hand sewn into a continuous "fabric" with linen covered wire. In "Relearning How to Fly," I've also used sound wire containing a recording of Giuseppe Verdi's "Messa da Requiem." The "Requiem," or funeral mass, was written after the death of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet who Verdi admired. Verdi's composition was designed to celebrate and enliven Manzoni's spirit, just as this piece urges a poetic rebirth of nature, as well as a sympathetic awakening on the part of the viewer.
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The Seeds Were Laid Long Ago, 2017-2018 (60" x 42"); Cricula Trifenestrata moth cocoons, linen covered wire (3 views above)
Relearning How to Fly, 2017 (44" x 70"); moth cocoons, linen covered wire and sound wire containing a recording of Giuseppe Verdi's "Messa da Requiem"
We Will All Be Present At The Rebirth, 2017, moth cocoons, linen covered wire, cement plinth
Half-Life of a Moth, 2018,
Bombyx mori moth cocoons,
linen covered wire, gold acrylic
paint, adhesive
(SOLD)
Bombyx mori moth cocoons,
linen covered wire, gold acrylic
paint, adhesive
(SOLD)
A Larvae Eye View, 2018, Black gesso-treated paper with gold acrylic paint
What's Mything Here?, 2018, Found book, black acrylic paint
Inside detail from What's Mything Here?, 2018
Turned Inside Out, 2017 (approx. 18" in diameter, but size varies); Cricula Trifenestrata moth cocoons, linen covered wire
The Artist's Hand, 2017, Cricula Trifenestra moth cocoons, adhesive