Mulberry wood, hand-made paper scrolls with 17 poems written by my father, Harold Collins; glass, linen, etc.
Each of the poems is printed on hand-made paper, and the scroll is attached by linen thread to a turquoise glass bead; these hang within the three branches.
Wood, photo silk-screen on fabric and hand-made paper, wire, glass. The title is from Ezekiel, "Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters.,"
Along rivers that flood, places of safety are frequently built high - on piers or pilings. I have been using those images of elevations with the reliquaries..
This is a detail of Heart's Altar, showing some of the photo transfers. The work has to do with memory, and the layering of memories..
Wood, fabric, wire, glass beads, hand-made paper, linen thread. This small piece started after visiting the Roman Baths, in England (Bath..). The Romans would write on little pieces of lead foil, roll them up, and toss them into the water. The museum there has some of them. There are prayers to various gods, but also complaints, curses, condemnations of wrong-doers, etc. (some very humorous..). I liked the idea of these disembodied voices still continuing to resonate. So..
Wood, wire, plexiglas When I started to make paper, I liked the way the mulberry branches looked after I stripped off the bark and inner fibers. They are unusually white, almost ghostly. I combined these with plexiglas pieces that I cut and textured. There is a memory here of flying box kites.
Wood, wood pulp, hand-made paper, photo transfers. I found pieces of wood floating in the Mississippi River, where I do a lot of painting. I dried them and the covered them with paper pulp. I used damp, uncouched sheets of hand-made paper to form the upper section.
This detail shows the upper section of the piece.