FUNERIA
Anubis urn by Jack Thompson for FUNERIA
Tattoo Urn (Goldfish) by Susan Bach for FUNERIA
Aesthetics. Taste. What’s naff, what’s ravishing? We’ve been there before in this blog and we’ll go there again. Bandit country.
The clothing, merchandise and interior decor of death is dignified, is magnificent, is horrible. It’s whatever you think it is. Undertakers’ frock coats.Traditional coffins with their sonorous names: Arundel, Chatsworth, Montacute. Chapels of rest. Hearses. ‘Floral tributes’. Headstones. ‘Memorial items’. Ashes urns. Cremation jewellery.
Coffins have become a lot more eye-friendly. What of the rest? It is notable that, in the matter of memorialising, some Brits, rather than be seen dead in a conventional cemetery, take themselves off to natural burial grounds where they can be sure to have none of it. That’s a strong reaction.
I’ll declare my own position on all the ashes urns I’ve ever seen: With the exception of the ARKA Acorn Urn I don’t like them. This one in particular.
But I really like these, above, from a group of artists based in California. They’ve even made me rethink the desirability of keeping ashes at home.
They’re called FUNERIA. Click through and see what your eyes think.
Labels: ashes, memorialisation
posted by Charles Cowling at
12:26
2 Comments:
Thank you for the post, Charles, and for attributing these two great urns to the artists we're proud to represent.
This year marks FUNERIA's 5th biennial of our much anticipated Ashes to Art competition and exhibition that seeks superbly crafted original artist-made urns, reliquaries and personal memorial art in all media. As this is an international event, your readers may also enjoy knowing that the various teams of jurors we've assembled since 2001 to choose work (through a "blind" process in which names/locations of artists are not identified) have found much to appreciate in submissions from artists and product designers in the U.K.
And, thanks to our finding and inviting product designer Nadine Jarvis to debut her work in the US during our 4th biennial in 2008 after reading of the GBP 10,000 bursary she was awarded from London's Design Museum for her "Post Mortem Research" while finishing at Goldsmiths in 2006, visitors to our Northern California gallery, Art Honors Life, have been enjoying an installation of these wonderful, evocative ash scattering prototypes and memorial objects.
On our website, and in our gallery, visitors will also see work by Ann Bates, ceramicist (Derbyshire), Alison Counsell, metalsmith (Sheffield) and catalogues from past exhibitions that include beautiful personal memorial objects by artists from many countries... all of which are intended for use and, barring prior sale, are available to order through FUNERIA.
We're looking forward to even greater participation this year, so stay tuned!
She does interesting work, Nadine Jarvis. Follow this link to Pat McNally's blog, The Daily Undertaker. Nobody does it better.
http://www.dailyundertaker.com/2009/02/nadine-jarvis-post-mortem.html
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home