top of page

Lunar Sector

The abstraction of a lunar crater: A shaped piece of certified lunar meteorite sits in a cast copper and Kuromido centre and can be removed for contemplation. Roll over images for further details.

When a large enough asteroid hits the moon, she can eject tonnes of rocks into space. Some of them travel toward earth, occasionally even making it through our atmosphere. The Sahara Desert is one of the few places where these meteorites might make impact, without being buried in the jungle, pulverized on a mountain or lost at sea. The sands offer up such rare treasure from time to time, perhaps thousands of years after the moment of landfall.

​

​

 

Here I have shaped a fragment from NWA5000, the largest and one of the finest of only 88 certified lunar meteorites in existence (more info here  https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=45986 )

I've wanted to work in 'off world materials' for many years and when I finally managed to procure a piece of the moon, to honor the intensity of its presence in my hand, I had to hold it for days while a form came to mind. By the time I was lightly cutting into the stone I thought I knew what I was doing!

Japanese master metal smiths made 'wood grained' precious metal by fusing layers and cutting through them, as did I: Adding arsenic to copper, to form kuromido; traditionally coloured with a chemical process called niro. I grew the necessary daikon radishes and made my own copper rust with home brewed vinegar, all before lighting the foundry. The whole process was crazily protracted while nerve wracking and elating in equal measure.  

I believe the end result is the first piece of sculpture 'in' lunar material.

bottom of page