Of and Within a Place – artifacts, materials & ochre workshops in Cyprus

“Before landing on this small island nation, I had never once had the experience of seeing the artifacts of a place, in that same place. Every stone mortar and diabase pounder and picrolite figurine and column fragment and ceramic vessel was created, used, loved, abandoned, and discovered well within a 200km radius of my body. Of and within. Total immersion.”

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A Ground from the Ground– gypsum & gesso deep dive

Interrupting the continuous colorscape of the Atacama Desert were white mineral veins winding through the cliffs, clustering in the sand, glinting in the sun. Gypsum. I smiled to myself, recounting the mineral’s characteristics in my head, its uses from plaster of paris to traditional gesso. I visited the material from my favorite painting ground in its natural habitat: the ground.

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The Story We Stand On – how do you know if a rock will make a pigment?

With rocks come colors, with colors come pigments, and that’s really where it all starts and ends for me. One of the most common questions I am asked is some variation of: How do you know if a rock will make a pigment? I will share some knowledge and a bit about my own practice with pigments, and in doing so, I promise to only drag you partway down the rabbit hole of wonder, reverie and deep time.

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