Wither and Tome

Wither and Tome is one of a series of pieces produced by artist Clay Ellis in the early 1990s. It is made of mild steel with a coating produced through a simple oxidization process. Before embarking on the series, the artist traveled, within an 11-month period to Scotland, northern China, New York City, and led a workshop in Botswana. Ellis states that although he gathered many impressions in his travels, “…it was the time spent working in a remote village, on the border of the Kalahari … that shaped the work from this period. Starting a sculpture from a place where only the landscape is monumental seemed right . . . and familiar.”