The ‘Sampler’ series uses the ubiquitous ‘Whitman’s Sampler’ box of candy as a prototype. Using molds made from candy boxes, the boxes are cast in earthenware. Instead of being filled with candy, however, these boxes contain slip-cast houses, conflating the mass-produced nature of manufactured food and housing.  While the scale of the chocolates and houses varies greatly, the mode of production is similar.

In ‘Take Your Pick’, the houses are identical, finished in white terra sigillata.  Only on reading the ‘key’ in the lid of the box (a variation on the Whitman’s lid), does one realize that this Anglophile suburb consists of one house style with eight different names. ‘Hacienda Heights’ addresses a similar theme with a rustic, Spanish accent. Excerpts from a Levittown brochure fill the lid of ‘Levitt Or Leave It’ with promises not likely to be delivered by the pastel houses contained in the box.

Media: Slip-Cast Earthenware, Flocking, Paper, Ink     Dimensions: 5″ x 9″ x 8″     Date: 2008-present