Thallus, 2023

Thallus is made from the white ash tree, a tree that has almost completely disappeared from our region due to the presence of the invasive emerlad ash borer. I sourced the wood from a local farm and sawmill and conjured a fictional future-being from the bones of a dying species.

Their form is drawn from the morphology of liverworts and lichens: clever, ancient organisms that have survived extinciton events and adapted to difficult conditions.

The polished stones present in the gemma cup were collected on the California coast. Many of the pieces in the body of work in this portfolio include these stones, sometimes hidden, and sometimes prominently displayed. They are a reminder of even longer spans of time and larger, slower, consistent expenditures of energy that the ash tree couldn’t be aware of.

Finally, the woolen cup projects a moon on to the ceiling, with a glass lens focusing the light. This places Thallus within the universe, but it also suggests that we might all project our own version of the universe outward from ourselves.