Tumble Stacks

This idea began with the a series of aspen cups during my time at the Reitz Ranch. The trunk of the aspen acting as the coaster, the new growth out of the stump, the new aspen, acting as the cup. As this evolved and I moved to AMOCA for my next residency, the idea took a more engineered path, with tight fitting junctions between the cup and saucer, or ‘pillow’ as I began to call them, with hemispherical integration rather than cylindrical, causing the cups to ‘tumble’ when removed from the stack. This was also an exploration in co-dependence, much like ceramic artists, especially those working in wood firing, are dependent on their community to continue their practice, these cups are likewise dependent on their base to stay upright.