In order to locate community one must first locate the self. I situate this project at the dinner table as the process, which occurs during a communal meal also occurs during the individual pursuit of the self. Like we gather, use, and share food, so too do we gather use, and share our character for it to become activated, for it to be proved. It is hard work, and just like eating, it has to be done every day, multiple times each day in order to be sustaining. It is a ritual we all take part in.

I materialize this process in my making, and learn that the empathy needed in order to have community may be gained from the quest for third person reflection; seeing oneself as the ‘other’. Using clay, plaster, and glass, I explore the three steps of gathering, using, and sharing, and show in my making my education of each. In this work I have gathered my weight in clay from vessels made matching the weight of my parents. I have privileged use over material and form in the making of the plaster hand casts. I have shared the heritage and ritual of my family in the conceptual and physical form of the goblet. In the making of these three works, I have manifested the process of finding, knowing, and becoming the self, hoping that community is not far behind.