Other items surveys Eastern Illinois Panthers include meditation eastern illinois investigates beads, crystal orbs and glass bricks. Her works range from $3,000 to $30,000. Munroe, who is wearing a crystal disc pendant that contains some of her Aunt Conchita's ashes, is one of very few artists who devote their entire output to working with cremains, says gallery owner Laurie Frank, who met the artist and first saw the sculptures about five years ago. "The mind-blowing part for me," says Frank, "was realizing that the glass sculptures were actually made with human ash as part of the glass-blowing process -- and that they also act as containers for the ash -- so the deceased person is in the urn and also of it. "Munroe's art is part of a larger movement that reflects changing spiritual and practical attitudes about death and its rituals in the U. S. As traditional burial space becomes less available and more expensive, more people turn to cremation as an alternative Most religions accept cremation. "Seven years ago, no state had a 50% cremation rate," says Jack Springer, executive director of the Cremation Assn of North America, which tracks cremation statistics. "Today, cremation rates are over 60% in Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii -- places where people tend to retire. " California reached 51% in 2004, he says.

And the country as a whole reached almost 31% that year. From a spiritual perspective, the idea of staying close to a loved one's cremains -- keeping ashes at home in specially designed vessels, or wearing them in special "keepsake" jewelry -- is gaining favor eastern illinois panther Eastern Illinois Panthers . A number of artistic alternatives to traditional urns and boxes are offered on websites for the mass market (see related story) Munroe's work, however, is not mass or commercial governors illinois. Eastern Illinois Panthers tickets She creates only two or three major sculptures a year, she says. THE artist's 3,200-square-foot home with its book-lined dining room is filled from the Saltillo tile floors to the high ceilings with paintings and drawings collected by Munroe and her husband, private art dealer Aldis Browne Eastern Illinois Panthers - eiupanthers . Munroe, 59, is tall and vibrant with green eyes, even features, and an almost palpable sense of fun eastern illinois university Eastern Illinois Panthers - eiupanthers . When she talks of meeting her husband 30 years ago, and their romantic world travels, she sounds much like a teenager describing a crush eastern illinois athletic . She wears no visible makeup, and her gray hair is drawn straight back off her face, as if to emphasize her openness. She says she did a good deal of research on those travels, scouring museums and libraries to learn how various cultures have dealt with death through the centuries.