Cultural Laminae
Copper Map, 30 x 50 inches,
hand-stamped with gesso and patina
(Clicking on different areas of
the map will bring up detail images)
3 panels, 11x8-1/2 inches each,
hand-sewn beadwork on canvas
2009 Seattle Public Utility Emerging
Artist Commission
Seattle
Arts and Culture
This work was designed for a lobby space for a Seattle Public Utilities office ini the Seattle Municipal Tower. One of my intentions in this work was to present public utilities as a bi-product producer of archaeology since most archaeology is performed due to construction excavation. The four panels show how successive cultures in any one region build upon, merge and blend with prior cultures. The beaded panels represent report pages. The first being an archeologists floor plan of a Native American Longhouse, the second, a drawing of a storm water catch basin, and the third, an archaeologist drawing from a very distant future. Each of these items can be found within the copper map, which centers on Union Bay. An active viewer of the work will find their face up close in the map, just as an archaeologist works while excavating a site.