Encaustic sculpture, (22 x 22 x 18), pedestal piece
Materials: mulberry paper, encaustic medium, encaustic paint, wire
This vessel was made from mulberry paper layered with 20+ coats of encaustic medium, embedded wire enabling further strength and form. The surface design was made using a batik tjanting tool with encaustic pigment, powdered pigment applied to the wire tips. As this large hollow piece was being formed, I reflected on how much we hold inside ourselves— life experience, dreams, loss, emotions, and gifts that have yet to be expressed in the world, a delicate balance of openness and containment.
As I was typing these words, I began listening to Tina Turner in her "Love Within" album, in which she sings about honoring the divine mother within all of us— the embodiment of unconditional love. She speaks of this love being within her and never having left her, and that she knows she can go beyond her history and her suffering—beyond. She reminds us that this female power is within all of us, male and female, and when we seek out this energy, it nourishes values like love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and tolerance. What synchronicity to hear this music for the first time while I was struggling to find words to express the symbolism of this vessel. Thank you, Tina Turner, who proclaimed in that song, "When words fail, turn to music.”
Encaustic sculpture, (22 x 22 x 18), pedestal piece
Materials: mulberry paper, encaustic medium, encaustic paint, wire
This vessel was made from mulberry paper layered with 20+ coats of encaustic medium, embedded wire enabling further strength and form. The surface design was made using a batik tjanting tool with encaustic pigment, powdered pigment applied to the wire tips. As this large hollow piece was being formed, I reflected on how much we hold inside ourselves— life experience, dreams, loss, emotions, and gifts that have yet to be expressed in the world, a delicate balance of openness and containment.
As I was typing these words, I began listening to Tina Turner in her "Love Within" album, in which she sings about honoring the divine mother within all of us— the embodiment of unconditional love. She speaks of this love being within her and never having left her, and that she knows she can go beyond her history and her suffering—beyond. She reminds us that this female power is within all of us, male and female, and when we seek out this energy, it nourishes values like love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and tolerance. What synchronicity to hear this music for the first time while I was struggling to find words to express the symbolism of this vessel. Thank you, Tina Turner, who proclaimed in that song, "When words fail, turn to music.”
