Like all new ideas, once demonstrated, it is so obvious. In the summer of 1998 Joan set up a show at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in their Personal Response to the Earth Gallery. The dramatic shapes of the pots were interspersed with photographs of WHOI crews collecting sediments and written explanations about the glazes and their history, as well as two of Joan s paintings. The glazes shone softly, reflecting their oceanic origins. The multiple sculpted shapes of the various pieces echoed their own earthy energy.
Dendrites are the necessary and sufficient structures for human learning.
Evident in fractals and in crystals growing fernlike in fired Indian Ocean sediment, dendrites are thematic in dance and are used in cancer therapies. They can be seen in bacteria-induced patterns in veins of gold. Dendrites are now tugging Joan s imagination towards future collaborative exhibits. The dendritic patterns formed on Joan s pots are caused by foraminifera, ancient insect shells that make possible the dating of the ocean sediments. Fingering these primordial crustacea is unsettling, a tactile nudge from planetary coevolution.