RECENT WORK: RELICS AND RELIQUARIES
Center detail of the construction.
This reliquary pays tribute to a vintage brass wind-by-hand cloth tape measure, already a relic just by virtue of its much used condition. It has a beautiful patina. As I was pondering what I wanted to do with it. I began to focus on its function, the winding of the tape around a central axis. This led me to the anatomy of a spiral of which there are several. I chose a formula for a central axis. I then began looking at nature and organic versions of the spiral. Thus appeared the snail repoussé.
In this view you can see the spiral formula in the top circle. That formula references the spiral configuration of the vintage tape measure. The snail is the organic version of the spiral formula which is less predictable and exacting, unlike the tape measure.
Vintage tape measure, brass sheet, basswood, acrylic paint
