Bricks to Shells

The long Earth-processes, the formation of soil, clay, rock, are the inspiration for this piece.  I have carved shells into water-rolled bricks!  The mud from which the bricks were made is the result of these long Earth-processes:  small creatures in ancient times lived in the sea, died and their shells and bones fell to the sea floor.  The sea floor became compacted to form mud-stone, rocks mades from mud.  Through the movement of techtonic plates, the plates uplifting to form mountains, the erosion of those mountains, rocks turn to clay and mud.
People made bricks from this mud.  I found the bricks on the sea shore, where they had fallen from a landfill / land-reclaimation site in Dublin.  They landfill was active from 1960’s to 1990’s, approximately.  Many old buildings were knocked down during that time and the bricks and rubble sent to this landfill.

As the sea eroded the edges of the site, the bricks tumbled out onto the shore and rolled back and forth in the sea, becoming eroded themselves.  I carve shells into them to finish the circle and to acknowledge the part of the long Earth-processes in our lives.