The intimacy of functional objects, especially ones that deal with ritual, is amplified when they are created in groups. Spooky cups at a distance is a piece contemplating the action of separating such groups, specifically a pairing of cups. From my point of view, as their maker, the cups will remain a set no matter how far apart they are in both space and time. One cup has been thrown into Lake Erie, the other remains with me. The fabricated link between these objects allows me to imagine another connection, when I drink from mine, between myself and the recoverer of the second cup. 

I constructed the cups from spun 16 gauge copper sheet, with bases made from die formed funnels. On the lip and foot, I soldered 12 gauge silver wire for aesthetic flare and structural support. Once fabricated, I plated the interior of the copper cups with 24k gold, then added a cupric nitrate patina to the exterior. This simulation, of age in the patina and of newness in the gold, will wear away from both cups at different rates. The cup left in the lake will be sandblasted by the ever churning waves, dented and altered by the stones that accompany it. The cup which I kept will be dented by human use, hand oil will soak the patina and repeated grip will wear it thin. The gold interior will be colored copper again through repeated washing, no matter how gentle. 

Of all my thesis works, this is the only one I have kept part of. My pieces all create a connection between me and future people. I affect them through the act of creation, and imagine them until they can imagine me. In keeping a cup, I can observe the change of the object in a domestic space, and imagine the inverse in the natural world. This connection is suggested in the title, a reference to Albert Einstein’s dismissive description of quantum entanglement.