“Discarded Flower” is the second in the series called “Wounded Flowers”. This has been carved from a piece of Brazilian amber.

DISCARDED FLOWER I

THE PROCESS

In carving this sculpture, I chose to pierce it in two areas to create more separation of petals and to suggest movement. The intention was to give it a feeling of having just surpassed the full flowering stage and the initial movement towards decay. This is carved from a transparent piece of amber with no inclusions. The size of the finished carving is approximately 1.75” x 1.25” x 0.5” (4.5 cm x 3.2 cm x 1.27 cm).

Before beginning a carving, I may or may not have a rough idea in mind for that sculpture. In this series, the symbol of a flower is my focus. The design of each particular flower is determined by the piece of material I’ve selected to carve.

My approach is to develop a connection with the material and listen to where it wants to take me. It is crucial to open myself to this intimate dialogue and dance that occurs during the process of carving. Any “forcing” in the carving process, most notably in materials such as amber and stone, will almost always result in mistakes. Carving is a process that can’t be rushed or forced. It’s about the nature of the material and my responsiveness to its inherent nature, its “essence”, rather than imposing my will upon it.

Once I established a sense of where to begin, I roughly marked out some initial lines and areas where I would make the beginning cuts and removal of larger amounts of material. Depending on the flow of the dialogue occurring, the form may emerge quickly, or take longer to develop. After the majority of the material is removed and the form is completely roughed out, I start gently cutting into each area that will be pierced.

When piercing amber, there is always the risk of shattering it by doing so. At this stage, the process becomes very delicate and there is no room for errors. It becomes a slowed down movement of careful cutting to make each piercing. The next step is to enlarge the pierced opening(s).

At this point, I’m down to what I call the cleanup stage. I go over the entire piece repeatedly, removing very small amounts of material with files and scrapers. When the carving is fully refined, the final steps are very light scraping and multiple progressions of sanding with finer grits of wet/dry sand paper. This is continued until I bring the piece of amber completely up to a highly polished state, where all tool marks and scratches are removed. My final step is to repeatedly go over the piece to check for anything that needs to be altered, reworked slightly, or marks that were missed in polishing.

DISCARDED FLOWER II

DISCARDED FLOWER III

DISCARDED FLOWER IV

THE INSPIRATION

Discard is to throw away that which is unwanted. In our individual lives, what do we discard and why? What is unwanted? That could mean anything, completely dependent on what an individual perceives to be of no value to them.

I remember how many times I’ve picked a wild flower, enjoyed it, maybe even brought it home and kept it alive for a brief moment in a container of water. I’m also reminded of when I was a child and would sometimes pick a daisy and pull off the petals, letting them fall away one by one and then discard the final part of the flower. Thinking of this reminds me of several childhood games with flowers. Perhaps childhood games are preparation for “adult games”, but that’s another discussion altogether.

So what am I talking about with this “Discarded Flower” carving? I’m talking about how we are discarded from youth and all through adulthood. This happens in all kinds of ways to varying degrees. I’ll even suggest that, in this world there is no way to escape being discarded in some manner. It’s a common experience that probably isn’t acknowledged, or looked at with awareness that often. It’s too painful and easier to glide by pretending that everything is “okay”, selling ourselves whatever story makes that believable. In doing so, we discard parts of ourselves that we consider unacceptable to others and/or society.

What happens to those discarded parts? They don’t decay like a discarded flower. Those ignored parts ferment and become a rancid growth in the shadows of our individual lives. They fundamentally obstruct healthy growth below our conscious awareness, unless we choose to go looking within our shadows, embrace those experiences that have shaped us in life, heal and become whole.

DISCARDED FLOWER V

All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera and 90mm Tamron Macro lens.