Andy Paiko Glass Collection

This is a color photo... The sand in this large hourglass is a luminescent/reflective black color...

a full coyote spine... canis latrans.

This is a deer spine. The vessel is about 48" tall. It is hand-etched with an entry regarding one's CHARACTER and personality... someone's "backbone"...

A 24 carat gold-plated coyote skull... The alchemist's ultimate goal was not simply to turn lead into gold, but through a series of distillations and transformations of both the body and the mind, to reach a "spiritual gold".... or enlightenment... a state of perfection...

The four alchemical states are here: black: the prima materia; red(wood):the transforming fire; white(clear):the purification; gold:the philosopher's stone...

"Canis auribus tenere" means "to hold a 'dog' by the ears"... An old Latin saying describing the dilemma of being unable to hold on, but afraid to let go. Around the coyote(dog) skull is etched an entry dealing with memory... I feel the same way about some memories: unable to remember everything, and simultaneously afraid to let go of what they represent...

Coyote is recognized as a Native American mythological figure with his counterpart in the Greek Hermes, as well as the Roman Mercury and the Egyptian Thoth; To "hermetically seal" a vessel is to make airtight; Hermes is said to be the father of the hermetic arts: alchemy; Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation...