Jordan Tierney

Jordan TierneyJordan TierneyJordan Tierney

Jordan Tierney

Jordan TierneyJordan TierneyJordan Tierney
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Ceremonial Musical Instruments, Late 21st Century Jones Falls Settlement

    Upright Bass Video

    Jordan playing upright bass at exhibit

    Bird Reliquaries from Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlement

    Hummingbird Reliquary

     

    Found tree root with natural stone inclusions, vintage flatware chest, rusty bottle caps and faucets,  mardi gras beads found in stream, glass valve, collage, velvet, paint

       

      My work grows organically from time spent wandering in the urban streams and forest buffers of Baltimore. These hidden waterways were designed to channel storm water from all our impervious surfaces like roads, shopping malls, and housing developments. The water transports all the trash and pollution it collects along the way, to the Jones Falls, then the Chesapeake Bay, and out to the Atlantic Ocean. While hiking, I feel a mixture of awe at the lush life that manages to grow in such an abused environment and horror at the way we have treated the earth. I worry about climate collapse and especially my daughter’s future.

      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.

      Ceremonial Garments from Late 21st Century, Jones Falls Settlement

      Created for a dance exalting an elder’s lifetime of capability, infinite potential, and commitment to work, Vintage shoulder pads, twine, old wooden tool handles, grommets

        Invocations

        This series is made from dead tree limbs with places the tree had to heal itself from a wound combined with found objects. each piece was paired with a phrase from a female environmental activist, poet, scientist...

        "The songs of the guardians of silence are the most powerful”- Joy Harjo

          Spiritual Devices from the 3rd Millennium CE

          This series is made from dead tree limbs with places the tree had to heal itself from a wound combined with found flotsam and jetsam.

          Tell Tale

          65x6x5"
          Tree limb, glass, tool handle, screw driver, rope, hardware, paint

            Wandering Totems

            Goddess of the Four Winds

            found wood, shot gun shells, wiffle ball, plastic bottle caps, glove, rope, fishing lure, feathers

              Anthropocene Scenes

              This series was made while spending time exploring Herring Run with my daughter from the age of four to ten. We had many adventures and collected things to make art with. 

              At Home in the World

                Sacred Dance of Flight

                36x66.5" Architectural wood salvage, spoons found in streams, deer sacrum,  rusty metal, collage, paint

                2019

                Early Sculpture

                Sailors' Rosary and Ascension

                  Collage Paintings on Wood Panel

                    Spiritual Devices from the 3rd Millennium

                    Forager, carved wood with natural stone inclusion and cotton netting

                      Utensil-ish Carvings from found wood, many have natural stone inclusions

                        Vessels Carved from Found Wood

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