2017-06-10 14.43.10_s

The Contact: Cross Polarized Granite (left, 2015) and Cross Polarized Gabbro (right, 2014): Oh. My. Goodness. This is really what it’s like to look at these rocks in a polarizing (petrographic) microscope. But again, there’s more than that. The range of scales represented by pieces in this show is striking: these images represent crystals that are maybe a few millimeters long. In contrast, the areas that the geologic map and landscape quilts represent are several tens of kilometers wide. And yet the mineral grains here – the color fields and stitching patterns – are what produce the fractures and rock fabrics illustrated – also by color fields and stitching patterns – in pieces like Nevadan Orogeny and 07.25.12 19:55.