Getting Lost, Getting Found
Getting Lost, Getting Found
- Creator: Mari Andrews
- Date: 2025
- Location: Arts & History Work Room
- Types: sculpture (visual work)
- Materials: wood (plant material), graphite (powder), adhesive
- Collection: Airport Public Art, James Castle House Artist in Residence Works
Much of my work begins with found man-made objects or raw materials. I like to make “new objects” using things I find out in the world. They hold the memory of the place they come from (or the place where I found them.) Getting Lost, Getting Found is a piece of detached bark that had been full of worms or other insects. The rivulets on the underside of the bark show the passageways of the insects who travel through the bark. The residency at James Castle House is situated in a grassy plain in a calm neighborhood. On the way from the airport to the James Castle House, I saw an entire valley that had burned a couple of years ago. The whole valley was charcoal black. Almost nothing had grown back, branches were still charred. It was both beautiful and frightening. I could imagine the insects burrowing their way under the bark. I could imagine them getting lost and found again. Those byways looked well-travelled. A neighboring fellow was cutting his downed wood for his fireplace, but he had more than he needed. He let me take about 8 pieces of the bark to experiment with and upon cleaning out the" insect channels" I uncovered an entire freeway system! I altered the bark by scraping out the insect roadways and applied glue to seal the scraped wood, then rubbed graphite to the bark, all buffed down tight. - Mari Andrews
