Thing 1 and Thing 2

2026, Wood, Ash and Plasma-sprayed zinc

These two pieces, Thing 1 and Thing 2, grew out of an atelier class at CCA exploring the work of J. B. Blunk. Using his materially driven practice as a starting point, I began with locally sourced wood from Marshall, California, and let the material lead. I wasn’t interested in replicating Blunk, but in responding to his work and allowing my own ideas to percolate through.

I wanted to bring a softer, more feminine sensibility to what I experience as Blunk’s deeply masculine energy. I’m also drawn to industrial processes and had been researching plasma-sprayed metal, a postwar technology developed in the 1950s to fuse molten metal onto machinery. I wanted to see what would happen when that process met an organic wooden form. Could the two materials coexist in a way that heightened both? A beautiful and contradictory union.

Where Blunk often left the natural wood exposed, I’m pulled toward color and finish. I initially thought blue was the direction, but it felt too heavy and obscured the wood. I landed on a very faint, fleshy pink that leaned into the delicacy of the ash while allowing the grain to remain present.

Wood and molten metal don’t naturally want to be together. They respond differently to heat, air, and moisture, and my first samples actually went up in flames. Zinc was the only metal with a melting point low enough not to incinerate the ash. I wanted to see whether molten metal could push into the fibers and truly fuse with the wood, finding a balance between strength and delicacy.

I was very lucky to find industry professionals willing to explore this with me, along with CCA teachers who gave me a wide berth and a lot of support.