detail of artist Tina Amidon's installation
I first saw Tina Amidon’s installation on Mother’s Day at Annie’s Annuals but somehow it seems fitting for Memorial Day. I usually feel torn and slightly guilty about what to do on this holiday. As a child the requirement was to get up early, pick flowers from the garden, assemble them into assorted bouquets and then head for the cemetery. There was no getting out of it. Lunch out at a restaurant was the round about reward. One experience when wandering through the depths of the oldest section of the cemetery that’s at end of 5th Avenue in San Rafael by myself was to pick a pretty bunch of poison oak to present to my mother who was highly allergic. As an adult I don’t hold myself or Henry to this family ritual but it’s always in the back of my mind.
detail of artist Tina Amidon's installation
I only shot detail of “The Allegorical Reliquary Mosaic Chapel Fountain” so in the artist’s own words, “My first freestanding but portable room sized installation. The inspiration for the piece came from a combination of the weeping walls in Zion National Park and the graceful and elegant roofless ruins of ancient Irish chapels. Made of mosaic and stucco on polymer-fortified concrete, fiberglass mesh, polystyrene foam armature, stainless steel reservoirs and submersible pumps.”
She spent ten years collecting the bits and pieces that make up the flowing imagery. I was startled to see one plate that I recognized as also having at my house, a relic from a great aunt. It’s an inspiring glimpse into one possibility for the stuff we collect.
Tina’s website is http://tidalzonearts.com
detail from Tina Amidon's mosaic installation
