Discovery Vases

Their pockets were full of the smallest of treasures they could find in a single afternoon.  She felt certain she just created another lasting memory with her daughter.  The type of memory she would maybe even cherish one day.  After doing several of these hunting and gathering trips, she finally knew what to do with these recently discovered possessions.  She grabbed an old canning jar from her pantry and suddenly it was created.  The "discovery vase" was born.  Inside each discovery vase were the simplest of things, cast aside by a fast-moving society, not bothering to notice or pick them up.  Different riches that she or her daughter inspected and felt worthy to be included in such a unique collection.  She was thrilled, at least inwardly, to know she was keeping the memory alive in her daughter, by simply having a visual reference. 

This vase was created circa 2009, when we briefly lived beside Queen Anne's Creek in a 100 year old cotton mill.  The beetle was dead when we found him.  He or she is a gorgeous olive green with black dots.  We decided against collecting the swamp snakes and other living creatures a swamp contains!

This is the other side of the vase.  A magnolia petal, painted gumballs, concrete bits, unusal sticks, moss, broken glass, palm cross, and a large elephant ear leaf are just some of the items inside.

These are the brick bits, broken china and drift wood found in and around the Chesapeake Bay.

Some of the shells have an iridescent look, very unique.  In the middle of this photo, you can see one lone empty barnacle on a brick bit.

These vases sit atop a shelf we can see everyday to remind us of places we have lived and/or visited.  Collecting precious things and memories at the same time, on this artist holiday.

hannah