A Promise in Blue and Green
Allen Memorial Museum
in conjunction with the Trace Elements Exhibition
Oberlin, OH
October 2005
for my mother
This piece was composed as a gift/prayer of celebration in memory of my mother. It is intended as a quiet space of rest, play, and moving forward. The structure is modeled after the tree-house built for my children in our backyard. "A Promise" is built upon recovered oak posts, and constructed from laminated poplar boards pinned with steel fixtures designed for the project. The entire structure measures 11X14 feet and stands 16 feet high. Additional materials include: gathered oak leaves, several constructed birdhouses, a small golden bird hanging from braided cord above a nest containing locks of my son's and my own hair standing before a blue wall, beeswax, lapise, incense, pillows set upon a floor of poplar boards. Not pictured is the scent of the wax, incense, and wood along with the sounds of the Pacific ocean, ice clinking in a glass, birds, frogs, and my children laughing softly…