Relic and Reliquary

Nut

This piece is a personal piece made in honer of my grandmother who passed last year.

Relic & Reliquary - Altar for the Spirit of Nature

Materials - cherry wood, copper, brass rod, deer bones (pelvis, femur, ribs, coccyx), fox skull, stone

The bones and the stone all came from the woods at my parents' house in Greensboro. Those woods are a kind of sanctuary for me, and they provide a sense of serenity and solitude that I don't get here in Boone where the city has taken over. The physical relic in this piece is the fox skull, adorned with a headpiece of copper wire to give it an air of ceremony and spirituality. The carved arch provides a gateway into the spiritual realm of the forest, with the fox as gatekeeper and the bones of the deer barring the noise and hurry of the city from the sanctuary.

Steel Fabrication - Decay and Regeneration

The inspiration for this project is simple - the forms of decaying plants, usually cacti, where new plants have started to grow in the middle of the skeleton of the old plant.

Hand crafted rocking chair

This rocking chair was made as an exploration of traditional craft and carpentry skills. Every aspect of this work was handcrafted, down to the wooden dowels that hold everything together. This chair was made as a response to the idea that everything must be bought or mass manufactured. I take pride in the thought that there is only one of these chairs in the world, and I was the one responsible for making it.

Reliquary For Conscious Rap

Relic & Reliquary

Steel and Wood

     This piece conveys the skeletal structure (thorax and femur) as the relic and the 

surrounding skin as the false reliquary that contain the true internals. The materials used help reinforce this idea of structure vs. container. Wood has a lively aesthetic as it has a visible previous life, whereas steel is often seen only as structural. In this piece the steel is used to show the deception of external beauty when the skin is pulled back.

© William Seal