Instruments Of Consciousness

Instruments of Consciousness is an ongoing body of work exploring how objects can function as tools for awareness. Developed over several years, the project investigates the relationship between time, perception, and attention through sculptural forms that invite contemplation and interaction. Concurrent with the effort to create formally resolved objects, I am interested in how these works might function as instruments that train sensitivity to the present moment and expand awareness of time passing. The project is introduced through five sets of works, including Clocks, Anchors, Epitaph for Birth and Death, and Breakers. Through material, form, and process, the work asks how physical objects might assist us in navigating life with greater presence and reduced resistance.

Clocks are porcelain vessels filled with water to the rim, unfolding time not through fixed measurement but through the slow, atmospheric process of evaporation. As water recedes, shaped by temperature, humidity, and seasonal change, time is no longer linear but sensed through disappearance and return. Designed to draw attention beyond the confines of a single day and the measured rhythm of hours, they invite a slower, seasonal awareness. To engage with them, fill the vessel and, once it has fully evaporated, refill it, marking whether physically or mentally the passage that has occurred. In this quiet exchange between water and air, presence and absence, time begins to stretch, revealing itself not as a number, but as a living continuum, where awareness shifts gently alongside it.

Porcelain, Concrete, Metal

 Epitaphs honor both birth and death, the beginnings and the dissolving of form. Each begins as marbled clay, shaped into a pyramid that cradles a solid plaster sphere within. As the clay dries, it tightens around the sphere until it splits open, revealing the quiet intimacy of attachment and release. Over the course of weeks, the sphere continues to crack and dry, then is placed in a humid room to breathe again. Moisture returns, only to be taken away, with sun, fans, and dehumidifiers repeating the cycle like accelerated seasons. Through this rhythm of expansion and contraction, the clay eventually yields, collapsing into stone like fragments. These are fired to maturity, preserving their broken grace. Within each fragment, the hollow where the sphere once rested is glazed, then overlaid with gold luster, an echo of what was once held. Each grouping rests upon a concrete base, offering a momentary foundation, something to hold what cannot be held. When a birth or death touches your life, rearrange the pieces, some or all, as an act of recognition. Let them remain until the next turning arrives. These epitaphs are instruments of remembrance and release, linking those we love to one another, and to the continuous motion of becoming and letting go.

Clay, Stain, Concrete, Gold Luster

Meditations are heavy clay spheres designed to hold warmth and with it, presence. Place them in a cold oven and slowly bring the temperature to 150–175°F for ten to fifteen minutes. When ready, remove them and sit. Between their heat, weight, form, and texture, they offer an immediate grounding, a return to the body and to the moment. Their warmth lingers for twenty minutes or more, a quiet conversation between touch and time. When not in use, the spheres rest upon their charger platforms. Between the ball and its base lies a 23 karat gold dot, a conduit that continues to charge the object in your absence, a symbolic exchange between stillness and renewal.

Clay, Concrete