The Revelator
2020
Rachel Sager
Perryopolis, PA, USA
24 x 40.5 x 1 inches
A 200 holed antique coal screener holds tiny vignettes of hand-pulled smalti turned into filati and malmischiato through torch work. Also, Marcellus shale, Youghiogheny shale, hammered copper, hand-stamped clay tablets, Pennsylvania sandstone, Youghiogheny stained glass, 24karat gold smalti, an antique corn planting disk and one zuni fetish.
The Revelator; something or someone who reveals. The thing revealed is often The Truth and the revelator is usually understood to be a seer, prophet or supernatural entity.
The rusty screener frame was pulled from The Ruins of a coal mine and cut into three pieces to become a study in 200 unique pulls of malsmischiato and filati. With each thread of hot glass, The Revelator unveiled both concept and technique to my studio practice. In the making of this piece, I created a new way of seeing the tiniest of tesserae. The colors slowly weave in and out from each other, creating a nuanced color study.
The ouroboros (a snake eating its own tail) imagery represents the ancient symbol for the unity of all things material and spiritual. The two never disappear but perpetually change form in an eternal cycle of destruction and creation.
I pulled the screener from the dirt just as the world began to hold its breath in January. Every day for 100 days I used the magic of The Revelator to make sense of a nonsensical world.
