60” x 60” x 2”
This commission was for a covered outdoor space, so we had to use materials that could withstand weather… asphalt cold patch mixed with black epoxy, fired black stoneware tiles with tar black glaze (that the family drew on), mounted in a powder coated matte black steel frame.
The small studies helped me figure out the language of the materials for the larger piece.
Waking in the Dark takes its title from a poem by Adrienne Rich, one of my favorite poets, but has less to do with the actual poem (though the poem does have a reference to asphalt) than to a feeling the title evokes for me.
Working on this piece in early 2025, after the inauguration, and all that followed… it might seem depressing to be surrounded by all black in the studio. Somehow it seemed fitting, but not depressing. Asphalt, steel, the tar black ceramic glaze…the materials were beautiful and their darkness was calming.
The phrase Waking in the Dark reminds me of an outdoor skills camping trip when I was a kid. I have memories of the Alabama deep woods so dark that if you woke in the night it was hard to tell if your eyes were open or closed. On a midnight hike we learned to keep our eyes open wide and look generally ahead and resist our natural tendency to look down at our feet on the trail. With our eyes wide, we could use our peripheral vision which was much better at watching out for tripping hazards than focusing on our path.
Somehow that came back to me as I worked on this commission and these studies, and Rich’s words became attached.
