Origin
2024
4 x 4 inches
Smalti, gold on wood panel

I made this piece on Saint Patrick’s Day, 2024. I am an American of (partial) Irish descent, and have always been fascinated with that side of my ancestry, though my musings have always been more fantastical than realistic. I hadn’t really realized that until, in recent years, I had the pleasure of getting to know some people from Ireland. Among other things, it has really highlighted the distance that I had between myself and my great-grandmother’s homeland, and how much there is to learn about it.

With this piece, I chose a vibrant mix of greens, which I think is one of the first things one thinks of when they think of the Emerald Isle. It is also a very superficial aspect of the country (which doesn’t make it untrue!). I mixed these greens with real gold smalti, in a checkerboard pattern to evoke a pixellated image. Essentially, this piece is about seeing Ireland through rose-colored (shamrock-colored?) glasses.