In the Relic Americana series I am exploring the concept of the American identity. Knowing that the objects and events that are meaningful to an individual are incorporated into a self-image, I mine the popular culture that surrounds me. I use the forms of medieval reliquaries, with humor and irony, as a means to question what I value. Just as the venerated body parts of saints acted as a conduit to supreme power, the relics I create help me to understand and access culture I am immersed in.
Summer Picnic Relic
20" x 20" x 3" archival print on panel with encased peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 2018
A True Piece of a Sticky Campfire Treat
24" diameter x 4" deep, archival print on panel in found clock frame with encased piece of a S'more - 2018
True Pieces of the American Diet
These are only 9" to 11" tall. For each piece I cast the upper portion in aluminum, the middle is wood, and the base is a brass piece of a candle stick. The wood and aluminum is guilt and glazed and in the wood portion has encased food products - 2018
Aleah's Bane (peas)
A True Fragment of Mother's Homemade Bread
Saturday Morning Indulgence (fruit loops)
Plumber's Icon with Holy Fixtures
21" x 13" x 3" lino print with watercolor on panel with found objects - 2017
True Fragments of HWY 89 Neon II
20" x 7" x 2.5" mixed media - 2017
Collection of Robert Barrett
True Fragments of HWY 89 Neon I
26.5" x 8" x 4" mixed media - 2017
Reliquary for an American Icon: Mickey Mouse - 2011
Collection of Ryan Lee
Reliquary of the Franchise - 2011
Reliquary for Soda Wars - 2011
Collection of David Gianfredi
True Fragments of Route 66 Neon II - 2011
Collection of David Gianfredi
A True Piece of American Diet
7" dia x 14" tall, guilt bronze & brass, hamburger pieces sealed under glass, and marble base - 2010
Collection of Robert Marshall family
Pop Art Relic: Emblem of the End of Art
24" dia x 5" deep, clock frame, brillo box, magnifying lens - 2010
A True Piece of the Canyon - 2010
Reliquary for an American Icon: Coke II - 2010
Loaned to Crystal Young-Otterstrom, Salt Lake City, UT in 2010 Collection of Frank McEntire.
Relics of the American Civil Rights Movement - 2010
Collection of Donna & Tirrell Hayes
Each button was worn on a march on Washington D.C. The white button with clasp hands was worn on August 28, 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King gave the I Have A Dream speech. The blue button with hands holding a dove was worn on November 27, 1965 where people rallied for Peace in Vietnam.
Reliquary for an American Virtue: Wisdom - 2009
Collection of Chuck Green
Detail of Relic. I found this pack of gum in a novelty shop and instantly thought that it was the type of advice to come from my own father. I had to acquire the piece and use it.
True Fragments of Route 66 Neon - 2009
Reliquary for a Lifesaver - 2008
Portrait with the Reliquary taken by Aaron Eskaran in July 2012
Detail of top with vintage pro seat belt button.
Reliquary for an American Virtue: Humor - 2008
Collection of Sharon Gray
Reliquary of an American Icon - 2007
The following are a series of collages completed in August 2007. Using an older intaglio print I set myself strict parameters as to what could or needed to be used in the image; such as they all contain a flag, bird, and a Native American. They are designed similar to advent calendars with the chocolate that you would normally find behind the doors replaced with a miniature coke bottle.
A True Piece of a Barbie
12" dia x 18" tall- 2006
A True Piece of an Oscar Mayer - 2004
A hot dog fragment is encased under glass inside the alabaster carver dog. The dog is only two inches long.
