This is a carved stone flask artifact with a use that is unknown to me (special oil?) or it could be a knock off of an ancient vessel. My father-in-law, Dr. Tom Durant, brought it back from Iraq or Afghanistan. He traveled to many war-torn countries (Cambodia, Bosnia, Serbia, Rwanda and others) as a doctor providing refugee medical services. This is one of the interesting items that he brought back and it has a special place on our mantel. I know now that it was the inspiration for Hanging On. When I was making the piece, the reference to that flask was so deep in my subconscious that I wasn’t aware of it until I was explaining my process to Barbara O’Brien, who wrote my exhibition catalogue essay.
Laura Evans