2026 Newbury Art Association:

My works, Sun in a Bottle and Iron Phoenix (St. Joseph) are on display at the 2026 Newbury Art Association National Juried Show.

Through form and color, Sun in A Bottle celebrates SPARC, a fusion energy system currently under construction in Fort Devens, Mass. by Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a spinout of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. The device uses newly developed High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) magnets made of copper and other rare earth materials to confine plasma at ultra-high temperatures. The goal is to effectively simulate how the sun makes energy but here on earth.  SPARC is projected to turn on in late 2027 and its success means a fundamental shift in the world’s potential for clean among limitless energy which would give us the ability to desalinate water at scale and succeed at clean hydrogen production. The circular shape is inspired by the tokamak donut shape of SPARC and the blue earth pigment is derived using scrap copper from the HTS magnets currently being assembled to become SPARC.

Iron Phoenix (St. Joseph) gives form to the co-existence of the spiritual and religious traditions of Catholicism and European Folklore by a depiction of St. Joseph, the legal and adoptive father of Jesus Christ, as a rising iron phoenix made of iron.  In Catholic lore, St. Joseph obtained his title as the patron of departing souls because of his own ultimate peaceful departure. This is represented by the phoenix-like form the black earth pigment, made of Fe, takes on the cotton. In Eastern European folklore iron has been used as a great protector of physical energy. The physical iron fragment gives life to this physical and spiritual protective force. The visual melding of these two religious traditions brings in a powerful yet grounding energy to the viewer.