One Nest : Earthworks: Pairing 11: Vicki Gunter: Baby Names 1955-2020, New Era Series

Baby Names 1955-2020, New Era Series

Ceramic (paper clay, underglaze, stains, glaze), 20 x 27 x 5.5 inches, 2020

$3020

Clay is slow and fragile, then stone. Change is slow and fragile then inevitable. Art feels urgent in these precarious, revolutionary times. Say their names. Stay safe.

I could only fit 44 names on this piece. Sadly, you know there are many more black lives taken. My list begins with Emmett Till, whose murder in 1955 sparked the civil rights movement. The last name on this list is George Floyd. I chose white as my primary palette because George Floyd’s family wore white to his funeral saying this was “not an end, but a new era!” I also chose the yellow of the cautionary canary, still alerting us. DNA is inscribed on the blooming rose.