Decomposed...

This piece is part of my undergraduate thesis exhibition titled "...By the Elements of Being," and is made from welded steel rods, stoneware clay, wild clay, flocking, and paint. "Decomposed..." explores human connection to the earth through abstract representations of the molecular structures that make up all tangibles. The assemblage of the steel structure was entirely improvisational; a process that became meditative. The wild clay vessel in the center of the elevated platter originally referenced the human body, with distinct shoulders, waists and necklines. Due to being fired to cone 10, the vessel collapsed in the heat, and the clay body fluxed, creating its own glaze, signifying how our bodies are decomposed and returned to the earth after death.