Cartographers and Carriers

Microscopic eye candy!

During the home residency I conducted in June, I worked on some pieces in the new Cellular Series. Below is the finished version of one of those pieces. I have titled it Cartographers because it is mostly about the cells of our body and their ability to follow a map to do their particular work. I imagine our bodies as a busy hive of perpetually moving pieces. We walk around carrying all that activity and we don't even have to think about it most of the time. It's quite incredible to think that I will never really see the inside of my body; I'll never see with my own eyes what my cells look like; I can never hear the noise that must be made when everything is pumping and pulsing and moving around in there. It's a whole internal world that makes me into me, but it's also a complete mystery. I have absolutely no control over what happens, or does not happen, on any given day inside my body. But I have to trust it to make me walk and see and eat and think. It boggles my mind a bit, and I like how small it makes me feel.

Cartographers: Cellular Series 2

Below is the other piece I worked on during that concentrated studio time. It's still giving me some problems, but I think I know how to fix it. "Simple, simple" is what I keep telling myself. I'm still mulling over some ideas for titles, so I don't have one nailed down yet. These pieces have proven to be very hard to photograph because they are so subtle and foggy in spots that the camera just wants to blur everything together. Any thoughts on how to get some sharpness?? 

Cellular Series: 3

I've been hatching an idea that includes tiny paper-mache forms embedded in to wax. I can't wait to have some space and time to finish the next pieces in this series. Hopefully this week and next will provide a little more time than the last few weeks and I will have some new things to show! 

Cellular inspiration!