Herradura Tequila Barrel Art Competition, Austin 2014 - 3rd Place

The day after I was invited to be a participant in the competition and transform a tequila distillery barrel into a work of art, I left for a 10 day silent meditation retreat where I spent 100 hours in seated meditation: a process of purification. The Herradura ethos of “patience in the product” resonated deeply. Blue agave takes 7 years to mature before harvest. The carbon in the charred interiors of the barrel extracts impurities, and over time, a fine tequila is distilled. As the barrel opens, time itself is demonstrated, mimicking the blue agave plant or the lotus flower of consciousness blossoming. Our linear understanding of time comes into question as the barrel rotation alternates between clockwise and counter-clockwise— pausing for a transcendent moment of stillness when it is fully open or fully closed.