How often does one small, seemingly inconsequential event turn into another, bigger event which then leads to some unforeseen opportunity that naturally unfolds? Nothing is more beautiful to me than one gorgeous tone of humble, pale smalti ever so gradually turning into another stunningly, rich tone of opaque glass. It just never gets old and I could make 6” x 6” gradient studies until the end of time and be very content. This small gradient study symbolizes how events transform from darkness to light much like the colorful story of this brilliant glass.

The Western Wall in Jerusalem, the remaining structure of the ancient temple, is a place where people go to pray to and leave messages for loved ones, for peace, for whatever story needs to be told. The messages are written on small packets of paper and then left in the crevices. Wrapped up in this little 6 x 6” piece are the hopes for our country to find it’s lost equilibrium and be a civil place, one where words matter and where the most basic sense of honor returns.

 
The smalti used in the piece has a long story. Originally destined for a 1500 sf exterior mural in La Paz Bolivia in the 1970’s, due to military instability and a devaluation of the Bolivian peso, the mural could not be realized beyond a detailed paper sketch. The 11.75 tons of smalti remained in wooden crates in Tepoztlan, Mexico for decades. It was a veritable scrambling of dusty, dirty glass in sadly broken tortilla sacs. Many willing hands bagged, tagged, weighed and scrubbed the smalti to render it worthy of export. In 1990, the 11,785 pounds of material that was once destined for South America, was shipped north to Austin, Texas. It continues a story, one that spans many decades and thousands of miles.

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