Just in Case (Gil)

I’ve created cremation urns before, but this particular urn is intended for a future I don't like to imagine, since it's for Gil, my beloved husband. I wanted to create something personal for him with a touch of my own wicked sense of humor. Lucky for me, he gets my jokes. In various cultures, the eagle represents many things -- strength, independence, determination, stamina, power, and honesty. Gil embodies all these things and more. I used his actual hair around the eagle’s eyes to celebrate his memory and preserve his essence, a tradition that dates back to the memento-mori of Victorian times. A lock of hair was an amazing material to experience as a maker with its colorfastness and longevity, sometimes remaining unchanged for decades. These relationships between material, meaning and the personal are central to these urns.