64 Rocks

Part 1: An art installation about time, memory and abstraction.

 

• I collected 64 rocks in the spring and summer of 2008. Each rock was engraved with the date it was found, and exhibited at the Penetanguishene Centennial Museum in 2010.

 

• 64 abstracted forms or “ghosts” of the rocks, were created from single layer papier mache made from honey-coloured Japanese washi paper. They were exhibited on a table at the gallery.

 

• 42 abstracted colours of the rocks were made as panels from Japanese washi paper dipped in pigmented rabbit skin glue and applied to wooden plaques. The 3” x 12” plaques were also laid out on the table.

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Part 2: The Ceremony of Return

 

Gallery goers, locals, and their children were invited to my cottage at the end of the show to return the engraved rocks to the lake. That evening we burned the "ghosts" on the beach.

 

Perhaps someone fifty years from now will find a rock with a date engraved on it and wonder about its story.

 

—Robin Pacific