NOW SHOWING at Vashon Center for the Arts Gallery until February 1st, 2026

$2200

Imagine. 2024. Ceramic, glaze, Austrian crystal rhinestones; kintsugi-inspired repair with metal leaf. Dimensions: Variable. As composed, 25" L.

Some of the philosophy of kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending with gold, is to integrate brokenness with beauty. Kintsugi encourages us to repair rather than discard.

I made this trio several years ago to honor J35 Tahlequah and her calf whose body she carried for 17 days, as well as four year old J50 Scarlet who also died that season. I dotted their metalic-glazed ceramic skin with crystal rhinestones to evoke stars or twinkling water droplets.

The trio were shattered last year when I was setting up a display and a shelf collapsed. As I gathered up the pieces, I felt the sudden congruence: Tahlequah’s heartbreak, that I’d put my heart into this work, and that my heart was broken too.

I spent months putting the pieces back together. I meditated on our need to imagine a future where our grandchildren’s grandchildren, human and whale alike, are thriving, a future with plenty of salmon, clean air and water, and safe places to live. I hope humanity will see themselves reflected in the glazed surfaces and through the gaze of these whales and do what it takes to bring about the future we imagine.