Daily Essentials, 2024, 5 x 14.5 x 11”
Poplar wood, acrylic, jewelry findings, non-biological medical waste
Ben Cline and Ray Bernoff
Some people won’t go out without their jewelry. Others can’t leave the house without their medication.
Chronic illness is not known for its aesthetic appeal, but with this piece, we ask “What if all our daily essentials were beautiful?” By juxtaposing Ben’s fine woodworking and Ray’s waste-based assemblage practice, we’ve synthesized the mundanity of the daily pill case and the glamour of the jewelry box into an art object with a touch of both.
I collaborated with Ben Cline, a fine woodworker/artist and friend I met through Technocopia, to make this piece for ArtsWorcester’s 2025 juried show Fusion. Ben made the jewelry box and came up with the original concept based on seeing my other trash and medical waste art, I made the jewelry, and we made the box’s interior together.
Ben was one of the people who first pushed me to start submitting art to galleries, so it felt extra special to work together on the piece that would be his first submission to a juried show!
See more of my art, or check out ‘Swollen’, the other piece I collaborated on for Fusion.