New in the studio—a laser cut on holographic paper, based on my sculpture Ghost Pearls. Looks like I’ll be having a viewing event for the full-scale Ghost Pearls architectural sculpture as an open studio a bit later this year.

Digital Study #8 (Oolite), 2023

This study encodes information found in a historic 1856 ledger, expressing and reimagining that data as a transparent glass sculpture.

The ledger was kept by the women-owned and operated Ephraim Relief Society. It recorded the amount of eggs donated by members to support the Society’s charitable activities in the community.

At the time, within the local community eggs were considered a cash equivalent, and could be freely exchanged for goods and services.

Oolite is a sedimentary rock composed of spherical grains; its name derives from the Ancient Greek word for egg.

Millions of years ago, oolite formed as microscopic debris were tossed by wind and waves across shallow areas of the Great Salt Lake, gradually accumulating layers of calcium carbonate, much like pearls.

Oolitic limestone is endemic in the region, and has been used as a building material for many historic structures, including Granary Arts, where this work has been hosted, supported, and shown.

This series has explored ways in which economic structures, purpose, and community can be linked; and forms by which voice can be transmitted across time.

Digital Study #7 (Gift Waves), 2023

As Granary Arts Fellow, I researched histories of lace in Ephraim, UT. One afternoon, the local artist Julie Johnson invited me to lunch at her home, shared her lace-making practice, taught me basic stitches, and gifted me a piece she had made. During the residency, I was also researching archival material relating to the Ephraim Relief Society—a unique, women-owned and operated organization that played a key role in Ephraim’s history—and in particular, the ledgers the Relief Society kept from ~1856-1950 to record their significant charitable activities across the community. These interests were connected, as both lace and ledgers are formats for encoding value and time.

In this digital study, the physical lace Julie Johnson gifted to me is reimagined as a virtual column made of transparent, woven glass links. With the spirit of exchange, this work is gifted to her.

Digital Study #6 (Streaming), 2023

This study was inspired by research into the Ephraim Relief Society, a unique, women-owned and operated organization that played a foundational role in the local community of Ephraim, UT, from 1856 through the early 20th century.

Though little is known about their lives, a series of ledgers kept by the women of the Ephraim Relief Society record their receipt of donations, significant charitable contributions within the local community, attendance at meetings, and snippets of their voices as recorded in meeting minutes.

In this digital study, long chains made of mirror hang side-by-side in the gallery, reflecting back an otherwise unseen exterior world. The series touches on questions of how economic structures, purpose, and community might be linked; forms by which voice is transmitted across time; histories of weaving and early digital art, and more.

Ghost Pearls

October 12, 2022 – January 20, 2023

Granary Arts

Ephraim, UT

Ghost Pearls is an architectural sculpture that explores spaces of connection and mediation. The work is based on research into local and historical forms of lace-making, early digital art, and contemporary virtual space.

The sculpture is made from 1,005 pieces of rigid, individually cut mirror that are woven into an open, lace-like form, and suspended from the central beam of the gallery. As mirror, the work reflects both the viewer and surrounding architecture in an experiential play that raises questions of mediation and virtuality.

Ghost Pearls references lace in the collection of the Fairview Museum; conversations with local and regional lace-makers; historical links between lace, value, and time; the 1964 digital artwork Ninety Parallel Sinusoids with Linearly Increasing Period by A. Michael Noll; and works of the Light and Space movement.