Twisted Fate

Pit fired ceramics, pine needles, deer antler, fire agate, landscape stone, stone, wood, metal, fresh water pearls and glass beads.
Approx. size – 18 1/2″ x 17″ x 8 1/2″

The process of a basket sculpture is predictable in the methods used to create it, but that is as far as predictable gets. From the first choice of how and where to attach the first row of weaving, to the pattern the weaving will take, to the gathering and application of the perfect finishes, each step is dependent on the one before. A final embellishment might be wished for when gazing at the lone ceramic base before any weaving has begun, but rarely has that element been incorporated into the finished piece.

My material supply is large and varied in its shapes, colors, textures and sources. Some materials are man made while others, nature has provided. Some are even natural materials that man has enhanced, reshaped, and polished to bring out their intense beauty, such as the stone beads gathered up in this basket. The large orange fire agates are a particular favorite of mine in this piece. They have a crackled quality to them, a natural veining that is just beautiful – qualities that only man could have brought forth through tumbling and shaping.

The pit fired ceramic base holds an amazing range of firing colors on the interior, while the bottom has very little coloring other than gray smoking marks. It is the top side colors that drove the final elements that were chosen to showcase what nature had done in the pit firing.

And so, in the end, it is a twist of fate that all the components are brought together, one breathing something more into the next one, while making the previous one “pop” as it would not have done without the next element. “Twisted Fate” is a layering of nature to celebrate earth’s glorious colors.