Synthetic Earch

Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery & Design Exchange

Waterloo/Toronto, Ontario - 1996

The collaborative installation Synthetic Earth with glass artist Katherine Gray contains a mound of stacked wax-sealed glass vessels holding dark fluids. Each vessel bears a long collar with
a holster of crimped wire joint details. These junctions form roots for fronds of intertwining twisted wire links that slide and lock together making a helical geometry of ropy strands. Each link contains outflung arms detailed with hooked barbs, acting like burrs grasping and tangling with neighbouring links. A dense mass of these strands make a tangled shroud engulfing the glasswork contents of bile and blood. These contents are partly natural, from human donations, and partly synthetic, fermented soy and salt solutions.

Synthetic Earth was on display in 1996 at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario and the Design Exchange, Toronto, Ontario.