My artifact art collages are made with plaster of Paris, construction paper, and wire. The historic objects are suspended in the collage -- sometimes with both the front and back of the relics exposed -- and the surface of the plaster is painted with water color or acrylic paint. On the back of the collage, I will name the piece, identify where the artifacts in the artwork were recovered, and sign and date it. My signature is also etched into the surface on the front.



The historic objects in the collages are directly the product of my explorations. At every opportunity on a dig, I sift for artifacts so as not to miss anything. It is my intent to salvage all of the pieces of broken pottery and, hopefully, reconstruct these 18th and 19th Century broken plates, bowls, tea cups, crocks, and jugs. Despite this effort, there are many times when there are not enough shards from a vessel to do a reconstruction and these recovered pieces of history are incorporated into my art. It is also all too common for me to find shards scattered in the soil, often spread throughout a construction site by the blade of bulldozer, with a wonderful historic scene or design on them that become single shard collages.

My goal in making these artifact art collages is to allow the holder or observer to not only make a connection with the independant beauty of the historic objects but also to make a tangible connection to the history of New York.

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Lakshmi size: 18" x 6.5" price: $1,500.

Lakshmi the Goddess of Fortune gives her love to us all in some way or another. Made from artifacts found during the renovation of a ball field in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the collage contains pieces that date from the 1880's to the 1890's. These items were found buried about 6 feet down in massive landfill spread over a large area that was exposed during the renovation of the ball field.

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