Vitrification Kit: a Little Alchemy, Humor, and Truth

This work, from 'The Atomic West' series, references the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the environmental dilemma of the Cold War legacy.  I researched the process of vitrification and the design of a science box, took classes in cast glass to create the 'logs' that represent scaled down prototypes of the interior of the canisters currently in existence at the Savannah River Plant in Aiken, South Carolina.  Materials embedded into the glass represent my vision of the radioactive waste contained in the canisters.
 
The 'vitrification Kit' is not intended to be didactic, rather to engage and raise consciousness toward this incredible environmental site that has become a part of our geological history. –Artist statement