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Neckpiece:
untitled (pipe)
2005

$2900
+ shipping/handling

Made immediately after finishing the body of work for the Macleay exhibition, this untitled piece was a pure pleasure to create. Still resonant in my mind were the techniques I'd formed in that body of work, and the seed of this piece became a stunning tiny jewel of a beetle given to me from the Macleay collection.

My mind was on the open seas, as I was reading Herman Melville's
epic Moby Dick aloud to my partner. The incredible novel brought
about an intense fascination with the machinations of a way of life
now extinct, that of a 19th-century whaling vessel.

Riddled throughout the neckpiece are sailer's rope-tying techniques,
learned through a seaman's ropework textbook. The cord, for example,
ends with the tine of a fork curled into a hook, which was then 'moused'
with linen thread to close it (see images).

The clay pipe which fronts the piece was found on the bank of the River Thames for me by a close friend, and is protected by a 'fender hitch' of waxed linen thread. The jaw of an animal trap, often used in my work, now formed the telltale arch of an anchor. Untitled (pipe) was the last piece made in 2005.