Kintsug Cup 1 (Kintsugi Series) –
~6,200 Hand cast encaustic crayons & 24k gold leaf
23.5″x23.5″ (4 panels)
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using gold or other precious metals to enhance rather than disguise the cracks. I have taken this ancient technique and have applied it to my newest crayon work.
This new style of work comes from the time I was working in my studio when a fully finished crayon work was accidently damaged beyond my ability to repair. It sat in my studio for several weeks while I tried in vain to see if I could salvage it, without success.
One day I recalled the beautiful Kintsugi pottery I had seen and researched how it was done. I ordered 24k gold leaf and went about trying to use it to create crayons that could act as a “weld” between older and newer parts of the work. What came out of this was visually very interesting to me, and so I have created this second work which was based on what I learned.
The cup I used for this work was first photograph, then broken, and repaired using the traditional Kintsugi technique. The crack that developed was used as the basis for the gold cracked pattern in the final artwork.
