Spirit Worlds

Continuing from the Moth Reliquary series, I address spirituality directly with this body of work.

My work is a personal exploration of how to be connected with the spirit world through the present world. I rework my experiences into approachable moments that subtly question what we think we know and reconcile the unknowable. Symbols, veils, light, and reflection are indicators for the spiritual while cuteness and beauty welcome the viewer. I seek to create ways of looking and feeling that can bring you closer to your own understanding of spirituality.

Where do they come from?

Ceramic, resin, encaustic wax, paint

How do the guardians come to existence? They have their own lifecycle, thus the spirit world is not an idealized afterlife, rather it is an entire world of its own.

The severed antler represents death, and from it, new life propagates fueled by spiritual ooze.

Still A Little Further 2021

Lumber, paper, bees wax

Installation in the Light Shaft, University of Montana, Fine Arts Building.

The doorway represents the boundary between our world and the Spirit World. I want the viewer to feel the presence of this other space while highlighting the inability to traverse it.

Efflorescence 2020

Ceramic, paint, encaustic wax

Installation in the Light Shaft, University of Montana, Fine Arts Building.

What if another realm of existence lies beyond our perception? Efflorescence is a spirit world flowering forth into our world. This spirit world is not the afterlife as a place where consciousness arrives after death, but rather one of many transient realms. When life dies, some of that energy is dispersed back into our surroundings, but some of it goes somewhere else—to another world. Likewise, energies from the unknown are flowing back into us. We are connected through shared energy, yet disconnected in our ability to sense it. Efflorescence reveals a fantastical realm just beginning to interact with ours.

Shared Secrets 2021

Ceramic, epoxy clay, resin, wood, LED light

The hidden magic of a flower revealed through reflection. What other realities can exist and can we really know them without direct interaction?

Veins of Life 2021

Ceramic, paint

An ecosystem where everything is connected through spiritual energy.

Home of The Birds 2021

Ceramic, resin, fabric, epoxy clay, wood, paint

15 x 15 x 10 in

A bird fell into the ocean and from it rose an island tomb. This tomb became a home for other birds who now live and die on the island. The first tomb has a beak and below the water are a pair of bird legs; the spirit of the bird is infused with this place. The most realistic aspect of the bird exists beyond the veil that separates our world from the spirit world.

Reaching in the Dark 2021

Ceramic, resin

9 x 7 x 3 in

Reaching for something into the unknown. Is the darkness beyond? Or have we been in the darkness all along?

The Attempts of Humankind 2022

Ceramic, resin, mica powder

9 x 13 x 13 in

Created for the Lovechild Project.

Shannon Webb (sculptor) responds to Joe Taylor (sculptor):

Joe is interested in disrupting the boundaries that people have conceptualized between themselves and nature. He observes comparable patterns between human behavior, animal behavior, and natural phenomena such as erosion. I reimagined these ideas into a sculpture that depicts the effort of mankind to float above the current of the universe. Symbolism, material, and color are essential to the narrative of this microcosm.