Ashes from Altadena. The last two weeks I have visited 50 sites, 50 burned down homes. Others have dropped off their ashes on my doorstep after collecting from their own lots. I have a few more bags of debris to sort, grind and sieve. Feeling v appreciative of water, which makes handling these materials safer for me. The processed ash is now soaking and will be for a week or two. I still have homes to collect from but it feels nice to make some progress and start to transform the rubble. This ash will be mixed into glaze and applied to ceramic. If you have contacted me and I have answered, your home’s ashes are here. I’m still taking requests - if you have lost your home and would like a memento made from the ashes, please do reach out.
Dearest Altadena: I am offering ceramic art pieces incorporating ashes from lost homes. These are material tests of rubble and ash collected from a few participating sites in Altadena. The final pieces will be site specific and each one will be unique. What shape the final pieces will take is TBD (many more tests to do) but my aim is to transform what if left into something meaningful, beautiful and safe.
These will be free of charge. If you lost your home and would like a memento using collected ash, please reach out to me.
For my fellow CA fire victims:
I am offering ceramic pieces as memorabilia, glazed using the ashes from lost homes. This is a material test of processed rubble and ash from a site in Altadena. The pieces will be address/location specific and each one is unique. Raw materials for ceramics and glaze are toxic by nature - suspending these toxic materials in a clay body or a glaze and firing them in the kiln renders them much safer. My aim is to transform what is left into something beautiful, meaningful and safe. These will be art pieces and are not intended for food use as they will not be food-safe.
This is the first of many runs in the test kiln, so what shape the pieces will take is tbd. If you have lost your home or know someone that has lost their home and would like a memento using collected ash, please reach out to me. I am sorry for the dumb reels format but it helps to get more eyes on the project. Editing to clarify these are free of charge. Thank you.
Heavy rain has washed away the sand and silt in the topsoil here in Palos Verdes, where @sometimesinthewoods and I are staying until our home is safe to return to. A beautiful, silky dark brown clay is left behind. I feel lucky to have this new medium to play with while away from home.
I’ve fired clays from Palos Verdes before and they usually vitrify to a deep purplish-red. Excited to see the results of this one.
21 seconds of picking up Good Rocks on the beach. I owe a big + loud thank you to everyone who has been checking on me. I’m sorry I haven’t been responding. I’m so very tired dude. I’m not doing so hot + I’m struggling to hold conversation w anyone outside of my little community. To everyone I owe a response I love you and I promise I’ll answer soon. I’m trying to use the forced time away from my home to pick up lots of good rocks. I’m working on a special print featuring some special stones I picked up during the fires. 100% of proceeds will be donated to fire relief. Please be patient as I’m away from all my equipment // displaced because of the Eaton fire. V grateful to be here. V grateful you all are here. Thanks for giving me space + time.
