house and home: novie trump’s reliquaries

Susan Lomuto | Nov 19, 2009 | Comments 4

Did you miss me yesterday? I’m nursing a badly turned ankle – the result of working too fast while tired and frazzled as we ready the house for our move. I’m hobbling along today, better than yesterday, and expect to get back to work this afternoon. We are making excellent progress and hope to move in a few days. It will continue to be a construction zone for a few more months, but it will be home.
Home. Our nest. Our hive. Home.

Nest, ceramic

I stumbled on Novie Trump’s work while researching Mary Fischer’s ceramic buildings earlier in the week. Trump draws on her archeology training as she creates ceramic houses, books, birds, boats and reliquaries, many that look as though they might have been unearthed on an archeological dig.

The Evolution of Flight, ceramic

She explores ideas of nest/hive/home over and over in the work – the reliquaries resonated most with me this week. Reliquary – a receptacle for keeping and displaying sacred objects. A house for relics, if you will.

Birth, ceramic, 19 x 8 x 3

“…I often use archetypal symbols taken from ancient myths and tales. These iconic images take many forms: the bird as harbinger and messenger, bones as touchstones of quiet power, the forest as a threshold to the unknown. These symbols are used to express such universal human experiences as love, loss, fear, death, courage and transformation.” Novie Trump