Altar

 

This piece started out as a way of considering the now defunct Syracuse China and allowed me time to think about what it means to be a part of the Syracuse community.  It was also very much about my becoming reacclimated to an academic setting, which in effect forced me to take account of various threads leading up to the present time, including life as an auto-worker, my undergraduate schooling, and travels to various places like Japan and Israel.

 There were 3 predominant elements which this piece was made of: Reclaimed shipping pallets, repurposed Syracuse China trays, and Syracuse China shards.

 The top portion of the altar is shown below out on the kiln patio in the quiet early hours of the morning when incense was ceremoniously burned before the actual set up.

The pallets, as most of my materials are, were responsive to my immediate surroundings. One pallet served to define the space atop which everything was placed. Another pallet was severed in half; one side being more personal to me specifically, and the other less so and more about Syracuse China. That is not to say the 2 halves were separate from each other though.

 

 

 

The trays were stacked upside down so as to emphasize the negation of their former function; all save the top tray, and together the stack served as a pedestal.

A part of this piece involved sacrificing a former button up work shirt of mine, representing the blue-collar working middle class. The stitching was carefully cut out and hung upon the altar itself. The fabric was removed from between all the stitching, rolled up, and tucked in various crevices, like the written prayers that are places between the stones of the Western ('Wailing') Wall in Jerusalem. The buttons, being more personal, were placed within the inner sanctum of the altar where the incense was burned and various other personal items were also placed.

Trees with crows above: crows being a symbol of Syracuse to me. The birds have been presented by the media in Syracuse as invasive; an attribute which I liken to industry in this country moving overseas (Syracuse China was relocated to China in 2009 when around 300 jobs were lost and the union local those employees were a part of folded up completely).

 

This side of the altar (below) was more of a quiet space where shards were more visibly stacked. Despite working in this way, where things of considerable size (this piece was about 4' x 4' w and over 6' h) can modularly be taken apart, packed, and restacked, my challenge now is in finding final resting places for these installation assemblages.