Indeterminacy I
1994                                                                                             Activated November 1994; photographed January 1996
Carrara marble, pyrite, 9 x 17 x 11 inches                                      Collection of Kristen and Stefan Mordhost, Copenhagen

The first environmentally reactive works were the two-dimensional Conting-ency Series begun in the early eighties. They prompted a search for a way to make sculptures that would also be reactive, but additionally would change shape. These sculptures began ten years later with Copper Works in 1993, Indeterminacy Stones in 1994, Waterstones in 1999, and the Notation Series and Material/Immaterial Stones in 2000.

The Indeterminacy Stones begun in 1994 consisted of a chunk of pyrite set atop a piece of marble and left outdoors to weather. The pyrite, transforming into limonite when exposed to the elements, leaves a permanent iron rust stain. It may take less than ten years or over a century to dissolve depend-ing on composition and environment. For the first exhibition of these works three boulders were gathered—one flat, one vertical, one wedge shaped. Ann Barclay Morgan wrote,"... the action of “bleeding”...could be seen as the female life-force in the process of being released. The transformation into the deep colored limonite lends a sensuous quality to the marble.”