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Suspended Artifact: Urn with Lashed Tusks

Suspended Artifact: Urn with Lashed Tusks

 
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Object Name: 
Sculpture
Title: 
Suspended Artifact: Urn with Lashed Tusks
Department
Modern
Category
Contemporary
Place Made: 
United States, Stanwood, WA
Date: 
1995
Color
AAT
multicolored
Technique
AAT
glassblowing
AAT
off-hand process
AAT
applied decoration
AAT
frosting
AAT
painting
AAT
assembling
Material
AAT
glass
AAT
steel
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 68.6 cm, W: 68.6 cm, D: 12.7 cm
Accession Number: 
2009.4.90
Location: 
On Display
Description
Multicolored glass, steel. Blown and hot-worked glass, applied glass powders, acid-etched. Sculpture consists of a number of glass elements that all hang on a painted steel stand. Pieces consist of a hanging basket with two arrows sticking out, two horns that are lashed together, a long antler, all supported by a stand that has a wide rectangular base, and vertical arms with "U" shaped tops.
Label Text
This sculpture consists of an “urn,” with a basket-shaped handle, holding two stick-shaped tools made of glass and two glass tusks “lashed” together with glass made to look like a strip of rawhide. The urn and the tusks are suspended from a large antler, which is also made of glass. William Morris is widely recognized for his sculptures that explore themes related to archaeology, anthropology, and the natural world. These subjects are united by the artist’s interest in myth and ancient history, and his understanding of nature. Morris is an experienced outdoorsman and hunter, and his activities are reflected in his sculptures. His work does not depict animals in staged poses; instead, he focuses on the essence of the animal, revealing its nature through abstract forms. Morris is respected as a virtuoso glassblower, and he has worked with many master glassblowers, as well as with well-known painters and sculptors who are interested in making art with glass. Morris’s “Suspended Artifact” series evokes ancient hunting rituals or early archaeological finds. The series is related to his large-scale installations—constituting elaborate burials, or reliquaries, in glass—that preserve the hard bones and personal artifacts left behind by individuals of all civilizations. Yet Morris’s sculptures do not serve to remind us of our own mortality. As in the ancient Egyptian art that was destined for the tombs of the dead, his objects and installations are a celebration of life. Signed “William Morris 1995” on the bottom of the hanging urn. Published in Gary Blonston, William Morris: Artifacts/Glass, New York: Abbeville Press, 1996, p. 31.
Inscription
William Morris 1995 etched On bottom of hanging urn
Provenance
Hawk Galleries, Source to 2009-08-21
Contemporary Gallery Reinstalled (2011) illustrated, p. 7;
The Gather (2011) illustrated, p. 7;
The Corning Museum of Glass: Notable Acquisitions 2009 (2010) illustrated, p. 55, #39;
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 2009 (2010) illustrated, pp. 7, 46;
New Glass Review, 31 (2010) illustrated, p. 114;
William Morris: Artifacts--Glass (1996) p. 31; BIB# 36220

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The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) (r) is a structured vocabulary for generic concepts related to art and architecture. It was developed by The Getty Research Institute to help research institutions become consistent in the terminology they use.Learn More