Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario
Design Exchange, Toronto
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.
