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Bones of Eire 2003

Installation, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists’ Gallery
San Francisco, CA, 2003

In 1997, I was given an Artist In Residency award in a remote area of County Kerry in South West Ireland. I have been in many residencies in different countries since then, but that time in Ireland was by far the richest of those experiences. While in Ireland, I read and talked to many people about the “great hunger” and the migration of the Irish people. It affected me deeply, and at one point I found myself carving potatoes in the shape of boats. I called them casket ships, a metaphor for the thousands that died making that voyage. When I returned home to the States, I continued working with potatoes – making forms by first slicing and extracting water, then reassembling and shaping them. The process was very labor intensive and messy, so I put the work aside for several years. Finally, this year I began to complete the body of work, picking up where I left off. I found that time had only polished those memories and feelings.

“Bones of Eire”

Potatoes, wood
12 x 12 x 8 in.

“Bones of Eire”

Potatoes
2 x 4 x 3 in. each

“Cross Slabs”

Potatoes
5 x 3 x 2 in. each

“490 Grams”

Potatoes, wood
30 x 36 x 10 in.

“490 Grams”

Detail

“340 Grams”

Potatoes
14 x 2.5 x 1.5 in.

“125 Grams”

Potatoes
6 x 2 x 2 in.

“140 Grams”

Potatoes, wax
5 x 3 x 2 in.

“240 Grams”

Potatoes
6 x 3 x 2 in.

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