"supper at Sea" Ships of the Sea March 2025 - Objects

Inspired by the deep-sea depths, these objects bring to surface the 900-million-year-old evolutionary history of what lies beneath. Fossilized sea sponge, carved shells, and columnar coral rise into functional vessels and sculpture, revealing the ever-present force of water that shapes matter over time.

In navigation, a "circle" typically refers to a "great circle," which is the shortest path between two points on the Earth's surface. The great circle route is always considered as a first step in planning any ocean crossing, and the sailors in the 1700s would have determined their route relying on the two methods available: dead reckoning, the manual mathematical equations worked to find one’s position, as well as celestial navigation, the act of reading the skies at night. Here, porcelain clay materializes into sea circle collars, three encompassing a celestial being, imagined to have emerged from the deep to clear the way for the good luck of “fair skies and following seas.”