After Silence, A Song is a mixed-media assemblage, approximately 16″x24″, created with natural and found materials including cicada shells, seed pods, bark, textile remnants, paper scrolls, embroidery hoops, and hand-worked fiber. The work is composed as a flat-lay assemblage, carefully arranged and photographed, then printed on canvas. For exhibition, the photograph will be enlarged to three times the original scale, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the intricate details and textures. This presentation offers a contemplative encounter—an opportunity to “get lost” in the layered composition and enter into its cycles of silence, waiting, and transformation.

My practice is rooted in observation, bundling, and transformation. I collect natural and found materials that might otherwise be discarded and arrange them into meditative compositions. The process of flat-laying the assemblage, photographing it, and then enlarging it onto canvas mirrors the act of contemplation itself: first noticing, then framing, then expanding the moment so it can be fully encountered. This layered process allows me—and later, the viewer—to experience the ordinary as luminous and sustaining, much like a blessing received through attentive silence.

Every element of this work comes directly from or references the natural environment—cicada shells marking emergence, seed pods holding potential, bark carrying memory of growth. By arranging these fragments into a unified form, I acknowledge the interconnectedness of nature’s cycles. The choice to enlarge the photographed assemblage underscores how much richness is embedded in small, often overlooked details. In this way, the work not only draws from the environment but also returns attention to it, encouraging viewers to carry renewed noticing back into their own walks and daily encounters with the natural world.

This work resonates with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek through its deep attention to cycles of silence, emergence, and renewal in the natural world. By gathering cicada shells, seed pods, bark, and other fragments of growth and decay, the assemblage reflects the book’s contemplative noticing of life’s hidden rhythms. Enlarged through photographic presentation, the piece invites viewers to see what might otherwise remain overlooked—tiny textures, fragile layers, and ephemeral forms—mirroring Dillard’s call to slow down and perceive the extraordinary within the ordinary.

How can silence be made visible?
What does transformation look like at its quietest, most overlooked stages?
In honoring discarded husks and remnants, am I lifting them into song or simply amplifying silence?

I have learned that silence is never empty—it holds memory, transformation, and waiting. The cicada shells taught me this most vividly: they are silent, brittle husks, yet they testify to the unseen life beneath the soil and the ecstatic sound that follows emergence. In assembling this work, I learned to trust the slow process of layering, and that contemplation can be embodied in both material and form.

none. the work is complete, ready to be printed and mounted on canvas. If you would like to see it, let me know. I’m happy to share so that you can share it. – PT

DCJ – Okay to pay
$500
300065-2010
Percent for Art
9/24/25
Mary-Page Bosen Turner, Supplier Number 8535