April, 2001

Ceramic tile, porcelain china, and mixed glass media on plywood.

This piece further develops the theme of healing and the nature of resilience and strength. We may choose to be a chipped plate, or we may allow ourselves to be completely reborn, much like the way a phoenix bursts into flame and arises anew from the ashes. Even though we may not even remotely resemble what we were before in the way that a chipped plate might more resemble the original unbroken plate, the new star that arises out of the ashes is more true to our inner essential character.

Andy brought home a tacky-looking scallop shell-shaped periwinkle blue pottery vase that he had found. “Isn’t this a neat vase?” “Yeah it is!” I happily responded, and the next morning I was out on my patio, whacking it with a hammer into mosaic pieces. Within a couple days the vase mosaic pieces had sprouted wondrous weird flowers, and when I showed them to Andy, he said, “Wow, that looks really nea--- HEY!! That’s my vase in there!!!”

Description to come soon