The Ice Sprouts series came about as an observation of organic matter still available during winter months. These flora and fungi were more alien in appearance than their verdant warm weather companions. At home amongst the ice and snow, peeking out all manner of rock crevices and tree roots, these organisms inspired a series of icy sprouts.

As I rummaged through a decaying olive oil cannister full of 2500-year old ceramic sherds in the archives of the Athenian Agora, searching for adjoining pieces, I was struck by the variation between fragments of the same vessel. Time and the elements left some pockmarked and scoured while others were discoloured, crumbling, and eroded. Even others were virtually untouched by the centuries, apart from some residual dirt.

Modeled on an Archaic SOS-style amphora, I emulated this variable surface treatment using textured glass. While robust rims and bases tend to survive more intact, body fragments are the most vulnerable to transformative processes, making conservation difficult.

This sculpture consisted of plaster casts of my wrists. My wrist is narrow enough to wrap a hand around yet it’s fortitude provides me the stability to create with precision and the physical strength move matter. Stacked together its physical properties mirror the flexibility and durability of a spine or tower.

The spontaneous performance and transformative process of the collapse provided a demonstration the duality of the internal structures of the human body: they are simultaneously elegant and durable while also possessing a breaking point, and when this is surpassed their fragility is evident.