Concentric Rings • Artist Statement

Artist Statement - Concentric Rings: The Continuum

Death is an occurence everyone must anticipate and will experience. Rites and ceremonies have been established since the beginning of civilization to honor the dead and to provide family and friends an opportunity to remember and participate in the ritual.

Rituals are unique to every culture. They are essentail in daily lives and provide specail information about the ideologies of each society. The human body in life provides a reservoir of moral representation and in death carries its own possiblities for symbolic expressions.

In my life I have worked towards an understanding of freedom an equilibrium in art, life and death. reflecting on my own personal encounters has sent my work down two different but related paths. One is cumulative and deals with life today. The second concerns the subject of death with an emphasis on an individual sense of order an unanimity for each of us. When the eschatology and metaphorical relationship of the body and soul are discussed, they bring to light how rites established give involvement to living as well as a place in the social order for the dead. The ceremonial pratices are intended to express reverence for the dead and to express grief, wonder and concern in the presenceof death itself. Using a variety of materials is like a combination of our environment, our culture, and the psychological and physchological histories within ourselves.

Showing these "Death vessels" lets me explore choices; the way one wishes to be envisioned in death, as an expression of life lived or as a ritual for the future. In creating one of a kind urns for a specific client or one of my sculptural urns, I work on exemplifying a meaningful part of the death process.

The Standard Urn line expresses diginty, elegance and sophistication while showing alternative styles, functions and media. This line is readily available and is designed to work with exisitng creamtion procedures.

Concentric Rings is my vision to fulfill the need for cremations vessels that, while functional, also bring insight to one's individuality.