al·che·my

a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.

Feels like that sums it up quite nicely. Like when two random found objects fit together, like they were always meant to be. They instantly bond, form a new relationship, and kind of create a whole new “other” thing. Or when timeless words in an ancient language on parchment, floating in broken glass, become a modern wedding treasure. And pieces of wood, cut and sanded, put together in a certain way, screws showing and all, can transform into ritual objects, held for comfort, rubbed for luck or looked upon for strength, perhaps even wisdom.

Yeah, it’s alchemy. It’s magic, or whatever your word for magic is, and it is where I work. It’s my office, that magic place. I guess that makes me an alchemist of sorts then. I’ll take that title.

The pieces I am working on for this collection are a culmination, or intersection of my love of ritual, found objects, repurposing, cutting, sawing, sanding, drilling and general manipulating of materials, painting, drawing, erasing, all manner of mark making really, researching and writing. All at the service of a good idea. Gotta have a good idea. And hopefully the alchemy happens, and when the magic dust settles, we end up with something special.

It’s really hard work to consistently get all that to happen, like all-of-society-working-and-betting-against-you kind of hard, but when it works, there is no better buzz. It’s very fulfilling and I am filled with gratitude that I get to do this, thank you for helping in any way.

I once heard the phrase, someone who works with their hands is a laborer; someone who works with their hands and head is a craftsman; and someone who works with their hands, head and heart is an artist. I think that kinda sums it up too. I’ll take that title as well since, against all odds it seems at times, I am committed to using my hands, head and all of my heart in this magic place I get to call work to make meaningful things that can perhaps help transform someone else someday when needed. Or at least bring a bit of joy.

The Mezuzah reimagined

A brief description from our friends at wikipedia: A mezuzah (Hebrew: מְזוּזָה‎ "doorpost"; plural: מְזוּזוֹת‎ mezuzot) is a piece of parchment called a klaf contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21). These verses consist of the Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael. In mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, a mezuzah is affixed to the doorpost of Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to "write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house"

As I was starting to explore the mezuzah form, everything changed when I was commissioned to do a “wedding” mezuzah.  It is a common ritual during Jewish weddings for the couple to break a glass (there are many interpretations of the symbolism of this which is a discussion for another time).  Sometimes a bit of the glass is put inside a small mezuzah to commemorate the ceremony.  I really liked the idea of using the glass, but I started to obsess about using ALL of the glass and not just a little bit.  This posed the problem of scale, as creating something to fit an entire broken glass would mean it would be too big to comfortably fit into a door frame.  I struggled with this dilemma for quite some time but was determined to figure something out.  Then, at some point, the muses visited and whispered to me.  What if I took a piece of a door frame and built it into the mezuzah itself? Then it would be free to live anywhere in the home and still be “on the doorpost”.  This freed up the form to be anything it needed to be and most importantly to be any SIZE it needed to be.  Ha!  How’s that for some talmudic reasoning! 

There is a custom in some homes to touch the mezuzah when passing it. I really like that “touch stone” type of physical relationship with the object. The idea that an object could trigger that kind of connection, greeting or salutation, intrigued me and I wanted to explore that theme a bit more in both the wedding and non wedding pieces. Busting the mezuzah out of the doorway into other parts of the home really enabled that exploration to bloom. The pieces could now be free to hang on a wall, or rest on a table, or be picked up and held. The opportunities for more engaging interactive experiences are now only limited by my imagination. And I’m gonna just let that run wild and see where it takes us. I really can’t wait to see what happens next. I hope you will join me in this excellent adventure. Strap in, it’ll be a fun ride.