“We shape our tools,
and thereafter
our tools shape us.”
— Winston Churchill
Artist-naturalist James Prosek considers the sculptural, symbolic and practical functions of forged iron eel spears as part of his installation within the Florence Griswold Museum’s Fragile Earth: The Naturalist Impulse in Contemporary Art exhibit. Exploring the line between artifact to art, he contrasts 19th century spears crafted by blacksmiths in such places as Denmark, France, Italy, Long Island, Cape Cod and New London, Conn. with three Prosek-designed decorative spears with prongs curved in a non-functional way.
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Is a useless tool still a tool? — Consider artist’s hand-forged eel spears for answer.
Photo by Mary O’Connor
© 2019
Life Is Full of Sweet Spots 
What a neat collection. Some of them look like good back scratchers !!
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I agree that some tools become relics of the past, but they also remind us to be thankful for the tools we have to use today.
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