Work samples
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Post-Climate Collapse Traveling Story Teller's GarmentPost-Climate Collapse Traveling Story Teller's Garment, Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlement. I invented this character who travels up and down the river collecting and sharing stories with villages. Each plastic bottle is filled with sticks wrapped with colored coded strings serving as a mnemonic device for a story.
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Crow Reliquary, Late 21st Century, Jones Falls SettlementCrow Vulture Reliquary, Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlement. This series of traveling altarpieces are homages to the birds in my life. They are made from cast off debris and downed trees found in Baltimore City streams and forest buffers. These areas feel post-apocalyptic and yet full of life and magic. Found and burned wood, vintage flatware chest, rusted bicycle handlebar, rusty pocket knife found in mud, stream polished broken china, beads, all found in stream, , collage, velvet, paint, 21x17x4"
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“The songs of the guardians of silence are the most powerful”“The songs of the guardians of silence are the most powerful” —Joy Harjo (Muscogee (Creek) Nation- Cherokee, author, musician, U.S. Poet Laureate), 92x48x16, Tree limb, ply wood, headlight, rusty pots, scythe handle, wheels, paint. A series allowing downed injured trees to speak with the voice of female environmental poets and scientists in mind.
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Sacred Dance of Flight"Sacred Dance of Flight", 36x66", Found spoons from banks of Herring Run where people heated drugs in camp fire, salvaged architectural elements, wood, paint, digital images. A series based on my daughter's explorations of Herring Run and becoming deeply intimate with a natural place. We spent time changing the negative impact of pollution into a positive love of our world.
About Jordan
Jordan Tierney, Symbiocene Epoch Shaman, acts as a catalyst for deep kinship with our planet.
To encounter her practice is to be transported to a spiritual and timeless space. Her art is an experience. A revelation. A way to be reminded of our common humanity and our connection to powerful natural forces. She shares her artwork to inspire other human earthlings to slow down and reconnect with themselves, each other and the living breathing planet that is our home. Her outdoor… more
Bird Reliquaries from Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlement
For a long time I grieved and raged. Now I use my skills and a little sorcery to change the valence of the trash I collect from negative to positive. I weave the overlooked into a poetic visual presence I hope can remind us all that our earth is beautiful and complicated and magical. This process of observing nature, collecting trash, and making art has become a spiritual practice for me.
These sculptures are each based on a bird I have traveled through the outdoors with. Many of the wood pieces I use come from trees knocked over in a flood so I can use parts of the roots where a stone got incorporated in the wood. This resiliency during growth is an inspiration to me. People who live close to the land and make everything they need must use what they can find in their immediate environment. I enjoy that kind of resourcefulness. Each piece is a manifestation of many days of labor. This kind of devotion only happens when we love something. I love this planet and am grateful for the places my feet touch the ground here.
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Kingfisher ReliquaryTree root with natural stone inclusions vintage flatware chest, antique wheel, spark plug, rusty hardware, fishing lures, beads, and hair ties found in stream, kettle spout, arrow tip collage, velvet, paint, 15x22x4"
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Hummingbird ReliquaryTree root with natural stone inclusion; hardware, beads found in stream, lab glass collage, paint, silverware chest from junk shop, velvet, 33x16x4"
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Tree Swallow ReliquaryTree root with natural stone inclusion, found and salvaged hardware; knives, beads, circuit boards found in stream, wish bones, keys, collage, paint, silverware chest from junk shop, velvet, 33x16x4"
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Turkey Vulture ReliquaryTree root with natural stone inclusion; watches, bottles, bones, parking meter part, knife handle, hardware, beads, hardware found in stream, collage, paint, silverware chest from junk shop, velvet
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Osprey ReliquaryTree root with natural stone inclusion; garden tool, piano stool foot, crystal, hardware found in stream, collage, paint, silverware chest from junk shop, velvet
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Pileated Woodpecker Reliquary
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Great Blue Heron Reliquary
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Blue Jay Reliquary
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Barred Owl Reliquary
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Yellow-shafted Flicker ReliquaryTree root with natural stone inclusions vintage flatware chest, antique divider, dominoes, rusty hardware, game pieces, beads, and buttons, found in stream, amber bottle, collage, velvet, paint, 15x22x4"
Ceremonial Garments from Late 21st Century Jones Falls Settlement
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Traveling Storyteller's Garment, Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlementplastic bottles from Baltimore City streams filled with sticks wrapped in color-coded strings serving as mnemonic devices for stories, corks, string, rope, textiles from streams, antique canvas life preserver from flea market
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Traveling Storyteller's Robeplastic bottles, textiles, and toy found in urban streams, sticks, string, vintage life preserver found at flea market, fishing line- Each bottle has sticks with patterns of colored string wrapped around them serving as mnemonic devices for stories told along the Symbiocene Shaman's journey
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Ceremonial Garments, gallery view
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Winter Solstice Robesoda cans found in urban streams, raccoon coat form junk shop
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Capabilities/Responsibilities GarmentVintage leather shoulder pads, twine, old wooden tool handles, grommets
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Robe of Capabilities/Responsibilitiesused wooden tool handles, twine, vintage football shoulder pads
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Storyteller videoCharles Cohen recorded me wearing the storyteller's rig while walking in the Jones Falls. This character is a post climate-collapse traveling story-teller I invented. The rig is made of plastic bottles I gathered from Baltimore City streams. Each bottle is filled with stick that are wrapped in colored string forming designating coded information. each bottle is a mnemonic device for a story. The wearer travels up and down the river listening and recording stories and sharing them with the villages along the river.
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Traveling Storyteller
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Detail, Traveling Storyteller's Robe
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Detail, Traveling Storyteller's Robe
Invocations
These adorned bone-like sculptures are both memorial and messenger, epitaph and prophecy, funeral dirge and call-to-arms.
Jordan’s art practice and life are intertwined. Her studio space includes the abused and forgotten patches of land sandwiched between roads and urban streams. A magical realm of tangled forest writhes along the edges of these streams. Ideas germinate during her wanderings in these zones as she practices looking for nothing and everything at the same time. Her natural sense of time and place is restored by absorbing all the patterns of seasonal changes, animal activities, growth, and decay.These urban waterways carry the flood of storm water from the surfaces of our human-built landscape out to the Chesapeake Bay and the ocean beyond. The water gathers whatever it encounters in the roads and gullies. This flotsam and jetsam whispers clues to life. Found objects and foraged organic materials later combine in the studio as spiritual translators for Earth’s pleas and wisdom. Jordan speaks in the language of the terrain we zoom past every day, busy ignoring our breathing earthling brethren.
These forests have witnessed and been victims of our human folly for hundreds of years now. Some trees seem to gesticulate as spokespeople, warning of the looming climate cataclysm. The large works combine these patient arboreal expressions with phrases from female environmentalists, poets, and social justice activists. Jordan is inspired by these brave women who were often themselves victims of injustice and their work was often ignored. Degradation of women and abuse of the Earth historically go hand in hand. Each sculpture was designed with some of these writings in mind.
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“Acknowledging the gifts that surround us creates a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of enough-ness which is an antidote to the societal messages that drill into our spirits telling us we must have more” —Robin Wall Kimmerer“Acknowledging the gifts that surround us creates a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of enough-ness which is an antidote to the societal messages that drill into our spirits telling us we must have more” —Robin Wall Kimmerer (Citizen Potawatomi Nation, scientist, writer, teacher, activist), 76x30x30", Tree limb, ply wood, chandelier, copper wire, glass, lobster trap knots, bath tub clawfoot, garden cultivator head, grappling hooks, wheels, paint
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“The songs of the guardians of silence are the most powerful”- Joy Harjo“The songs of the guardians of silence are the most powerful” —Joy Harjo (Muscogee (Creek) Nation- Cherokee, author, musician, U.S. Poet Laureate) 92x48x16", Tree limb, ply wood, headlight, rusty pots, scythe handle, wheels, paint
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“…it’s as though these trees are sharing their deepest secrets. These connections are crucial to our well being” —Suzanne Simard“…it’s as though these trees are sharing their deepest secrets. These connections are crucial to our well being” —Suzanne Simard (scientist, author ‘Finding the Mother Tree, Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest), 96x30x30", Tree limb, ply wood, metal, screen, bottles, bicycle wheels, wire, paper, light bulbs, paint, wheels
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“Man is a part of nature, and this war against nature is inevitably a war against himself”- Rachel Carson“Man is a part of nature, and this war against nature is inevitably a war against himself” —Rachel Carson (1907-1964 scientist, writer, activist) 76x18x10" Tree limb, ply wood, gate ball and chain, rusted chain & hooks, wheels, paint
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“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.” —Jane Goodall“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.” —Jane Goodall (1934- , scientist, activist), 68x14x13", Tree limb, ply wood, deer bones, string, wheels, paint
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“In a time of such destruction, our lives depend on this listening. It may be that the earth speaks its symptoms to us.” Linda Hogan“In a time of such destruction, our lives depend on this listening. It may be that the earth speaks its symptoms to us.” Linda Hogan (Chickasaw Nation, writer, educator, environmental activist), 83x26x20", Tree limb, ply wood, red industrial warning light, stuffed animals, wheels, paint
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“Power is in the earth; it is in your relationship to the earth.” —Winona LaDuke“Power is in the earth; it is in your relationship to the earth.” —Winona LaDuke (White earth Band of Ojibwe, economist, environmentalist, writer, activist, hemp farmer), Tree limb, ply wood, glove molds, beads, wire, wheels, paint
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“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” —Ida B Wells“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” —Ida B Wells (1862-1931 Investigative journalist, educator, one of founders of NAACP), 86x12x18", Tree limb, ply wood, headlight, hanging bracket, wheels, paint
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“Living Democracy grows like a tree, from the bottom up.”- Vandana Shiva“Living Democracy grows like a tree, from the bottom up.” —Vandana Shiva (Indian, scholar, environmental and social justice activist), 80x9x5", Tree limb, ply wood, piano stool clawfoot, wheels, paint
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“What is it that you have in your pocket that you didn’t take from our land?”- Nirupabai“What is it that you have in your pocket that you didn’t take from our land?” —Nirupabai (Indian, Adivasi environmental activist)
Spiritual Devices from the 3rd Millennium
When I walk the urban wilds of stream water run-off forests, I feel set free from the organization of the chronological timeline we have in our heads. I become one with the cycles of the seasons, the immense power of floodwaters, the tracks a heron leaves. The past, present, and future merge into one.
Since most of my urban wilds are only traveled by animals, I can imagine the beauty and grandeur of Mid-Atlantic North America before colonists arrived.
Or I can focus, like an archaeologist, on the man-made objects now claimed by the stream or forest floor, and ponder the marks of human behavior.
Eventually I feel as though I am out to forge a life in this terrain. Survival. What might I find that is edible or useful.
This leads me to feel a bit post-apocalyptic. How would I describe the meaning of life given a clean slate to invent a my own spirituality formed by this place?
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Lullaby"Lullaby", 32x6x6", Tree limb, glass, furniture parts, porcelain insulators, hardware, stones, paint
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AmbergrisAmbergris, 32x9x6", Tree limb, glass, piano stool foot, hardware, paint
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PremonitionPremonition, 60x7x4", Tree limb, light bulb, furniture part, chain exhaust pipe, canteen, hardware, paint
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Star DustStar Dust, 34x5x5", Glass, tree limb, furniture part, amber vial, pearl, hardware, paint
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Tell TaleTell Tale, 65x6x5", Tree limb, glass, tool handle, screw driver, rope, hardware, paint
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Voo DooVoo Doo, 39x5x5", Tree limb, furniture part, amber bottle, pearl, hardware, paint
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Fertility GoddessFertility Goddess, 27x7x3", Glass, tree limb, clock works, porcelain insulators, chain, cabinet knobs, rake, hardware, paint
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ResurrectionResurrection, 25x14x4, Glass, shovel, tree limb, wish bone, light bulbs, hardware, paint
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Rough SpotRough Spot, 26x7x3", Tree limb, traffic beacon, furniture parts, broken china, paint
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Joy RideJoy Ride, 36x16x7", Tree root with natural stone inclusion, wheel, bedsprings, mole mesh, paint
Anthropocene Scenes
This project grew out of spending time in an urban stream with my daughter. At first I was appalled at the condition of the stream and its banks. As I watched my daughter intuituively interact with the environment I saw deeper into the place and all the life it created and supports. She spontaneously built shelters, weapons, rituals, stories. These works are built in salvaged windows and hold the evidence of what we saw, found, and created on our adventures.
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Life Force
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Fishing for Something Bigger than Expected
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Sacred Dance of Flight"Sacred Dance of Flight", 36x66", Found spoons from banks of Herring Run where people heated drugs in camp fire, salvaged architectural elements, wood, paint, digital images. A series based on my daughter's explorations of Herring Run and becoming deeply intimate with a natural place. We spent time changing the negative impact of pollution into a positive love of our world.
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Mother Earth
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At Home in the World
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Purification Rite
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Seek
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Intrepid
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Song for the Birds
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Canis Major
Ritual Artifacts
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TruceCarved sycamore with rock formation 12x8x5"
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Pitcherhand-carved pitcher-like burl vessel with bark exterior, old piano leg handle, brass drain cover spout
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NetCarved wood with rock formation and stainless steel net 8x8x12"
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FurrowerCarved sycamore with rock formation
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Censerhand-carved spalted oak burl, rusty bracket so it can swivel, a lid made of salvaged metal and wood parts, and a long wooden handle from an abandoned chair.
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Ladle.jpg
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DipperCarved sycamore with two rock formations 4x6x16
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SwallowCarved sycamore with rock formation 6x6x20
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SecondHelpingCarved wood with two rock formations 5x6x16"
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Berry Pickercarved found wood with natural rock inclusion, net
If One of Us Is Chained, None of Us Are Free
Wood sculpture
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Sailors' Rosary
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Crow Reliquary, Late 21st Century, Jones Falls SettlementCrow Vulture Reliquary, Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlement. This series of traveling altarpieces are homages to the birds in my life. They are made from cast off debris and downed trees found in Baltimore City streams and forest buffers. These areas feel post-apocalyptic and yet full of life and magic. Found and burned wood, vintage flatware chest, rusted bicycle handlebar, rusty pocket knife found in mud, stream polished broken china, beads, all found in stream, , collage, velvet, paint, 21x17x4"
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Life Ring92x40x6â? (variable), ring is 32â? carved, burned, painted wood, metal hardware, rope, fishing bobbers metal letters reading, "the cruel seas, remember, took him in november"
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Cumulonimbussize variable, cart is 22x50x36â? found wood and styrofoam, fishing net, wheels
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Sail for the Siren Winds108x84x5â? lace, bras, rope, wood
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Ascension108x10x16", carved, painted wood with budvases, rope, metal
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Empire52x12x22", carved, painted oak salvaged from 1870's house, broken china, stove flue cover
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Things Put On Pedestals22x16x13", carved, burned, painted oak salvaged from 1870's house, wood moulding
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Oracle
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GaiaFound root with stone inclusion, carved wood, antler, feathers
Wood Sculpture
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Thwarted29x21x7, carved and painted yellow pine joists salvaged from an 1870's house in bolton hill
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Whisper Gatherer60x80x36 assemblage of found objects like old t.v. cabinet, bottles, old phonograph horn with accordion-like fabric and wood movable arms, lighted x-ray front with spray paint images
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Coracle
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Post-Climate Collapse Traveling Story Teller's GarmentPost-Climate Collapse Traveling Story Teller's Garment, Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlement. I invented this character who travels up and down the river collecting and sharing stories with villages. Each plastic bottle is filled with sticks wrapped with colored coded strings serving as a mnemonic device for a story.
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Collateral Damage (detail)
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Muse Prayer
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Piety36x100x62", carved, painted wood with mirrors, screen, buttons, hooks, bottles
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Dreamboat104x53x6 found wood, 2 liter soda bottles, string, paint on pages from The New Dictionary of Thoughts, 1955
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EpitaphCarved maple 60x13x9"