1,000 Acorns

Ivory Soap, Oak, Pine, Metal, Single Channel Video Display

1,000 Acorns is a small section of a larger body of work titled, Humble Substance. The work is an inquiry into change as it relates to geographical materials and histories of the Ohio Valley. The act of carving Ivory Soap participates in the spirit of the National Soap Carving Competition hosted by Procter and Gamble during the 1930s. During this time, soap carving was recorded as being the nation’s most popular hobby generating over five thousand entries in the final contest.

1,000 Acorns displays various forms of carved acorns, providing the viewer with 1,000 individually hand-carved items to be examined. In doing so, the viewer functions as a juror, implementing their own criteria of quality upon each object.