New AD IDEM Rings: Installment #1

Lately in the studio I've been focusing on these one-of-a-kind AD IDEM rings, which incorporate the hand worked scrap of Norm Sartorius, who sends me boxes of same from time to time.

These rings rely on the idea of Norm's mark-making, of connecting our practices and honoring the material and the hand that makes the marks. 

Joan Didion said something surprisingly relevant:

"Writing nonfiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing. Novels are like paintings, specifically watercolors. Every stroke you put down you have to go with. Of course you can rewrite, but the original strokes are still there in the texture of the thing."

We are all makers, together, negotiating the physical world with the grandness of the abstract in tow...

A D I D E M

O F   T H E   S A M E   M I N D


I have always been the type of person who can pick up scraps and discarded materials and create something interesting with them. Since I was a child, I was carving swords and toys out of scrap wood and branches I found laying around.

Nothing has changed as I've grown. I love scavenging through old materials and scraps and creating something new! This has and will always be a very stimulating and fulfilling experience for me.

Every once in a while, I receive a contact from the brilliant wooden spoon artist, Norm Sartorius, asking if I'd like a shipment of scraps from his shop. Norm's work flips the concept of form and function on its head by taking a very functional object, the spoon and creating a piece of art out of it. After he is done carving, the spoon is now a decorative piece of fine art and craft. I like the idea of taking a simple thing we often take for granted and placing it on a pedestal. We need to do that every once in a while. Be aware of the objects that allow us to perform everyday tasks.

This idea also relates to the belief that objects that we use everyday should be simple and beautiful. I create lamps with this idea in mind. My lamp design plays on the same concept of form and function, as norm, however in a slightly different way. I always strive to create functional pieces that could easily be mistaken for sculpture. The difference is that I want the piece to be used as well as appreciated for their form.

I've been continuing the Ad Idem collection since 2011. The majority of the work is in the form of rings. I incorporate the discarded material that Norm shares with me. They become an homage to the minds ability to produce an unlimited number of ideas, thoughts and concepts and to the ones we actually take to heart. The whisps of consciousness that stay with us.

Here is the first of the Third Edition of the Ad Idem Collection. Thanks to Norm Sartorius.

See more pieces from this collection on my Facebook Page
http://www.normsartorius.com/

Of the mind, by the hand.

New Rings created as an addition to the Ad Idem Series.

The Ad Idem (Latin: "of the mind") Series is based on the idea of a collective of artists whose philosophies fall in line. The pieces in this series incorporate salvaged wood from Norm Sartorius, a woodworker who creates elegant wooden spoons. With this work, I access the collective unconscious and transform the wood into something new. 

View the full collection, here.