Description of work: A reliquary is, by definition, “a casket, shrine or container for keeping or exhibiting… a relic that serves as a remembrance of a person, place or thing”. The honey bear, here, is a memory of my childhood and also a container, itself, of the fleeting, natural world. The reliquary and relic it holds, often have a religious connotation and these flower relics recall, for me, St. Patrick of Ireland's claim that nature is the “first sacrament.”
This year my daughter attended the Blandford Nature Center School in Grand Rapids. We learned together about leaf and bird identification, tapping maple trees for syrup, raising chickens and making wildflower tea. “Landscape Reliquary” is an homage to these experiences. The pressed flowers and butterflies came from Blandford School, Meijer Gardens, Aquinas College where I teach, the gardens of friend Carol Jurgens and others. I wish to thank them for their contributions.
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