Using my discarded clay and glaze materials, I made a collection of ‘tree stacks’ that have experienced an ending in their life cycle, signified by their growth of fungi and further suggested by industrial smoke-stacks.

 

Hope comes in the promise of a cylindrical life cycle: that which once lived can rejuvenate. My discarded glaze represents this in both its own life cycle and naturally occurring colour: yellow derived from rutile. This is the colour of a fall leaf, and the colour of spring’s sunlight that repeats the cycle. It is a reminder to allow nature to run its course. To me, these collections of trees act as our new skyline of stacks, but this time omitting oxygen; wise, strong, giving, resilient, and persistent.