Aritist's Notes

Whole Forms: Shapes of Elemental Thought

This series of abstract images interprets thought at its most basic level.  What does the sensation of RELEASE look like?  What does FLOW feel like when you touch it? What is the essence of GRACE when captured in form?   How is UNION experienced when held in your hands?  What does the portal look like through which creation flows?  What is the primal experience of aligning one's body with one's spirit?  And finally what form started creation...what does primal sound look like?

This series explores thought as vibration in form. 

October, 2003 this series was presented as a solo show in a unique setting in the front meadow at White Fox Farm.

May of 2004 another solo show will feature this series at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Shenandoah Valley.
Portal

Portal

14" h x 27"x 18"
soapstone
$3,800

Release
Release
12"h x 16.5"x 19"
soapstone
$3,800

Alignment
12"h x 17" x 8"
soapstone
$3,800


The Om
8"h x 18" x 14"
soapstone

In the personal collection of Danette Brintzenhofe Mertz
Union
Union
7"h x 6.5" x 5.5"
soapstone
NFS
Grace
Grace
19.5"h x 14" x 10"
soapstone
$1,000

Flow
Flow
4.5" x 60" x 16.5"
soapstone
$5,500

Solo Show:    Whole Forms: Shapes of Elemental Thought
October, 2003
The Meadow at White Fox Farm
Portal ushers you into the site.  It's labyrinth form resembles the form of the piece.
The Om is the primal sound first heard at the beginning of creation.  It's labyrinth's form is  a simple spiral, a movement echoed in the creation of the galaxies,and the smallest particles of creation.
Release was placed in an organic form which echos the swirling ovals nature scribes in our fields, our sky of clouds, and the stars in the heavens.  What momentum is needed for us to release that which no longer serves us.
Grace was  placed in a simplified copy of the form in Chartres Cathedral in France.  The symmetry of the structure foundations the soaring lines of the image of the Madonna and her gift of pure grace. 
Alignment was placed in a series of Reuleaux triangles which echoed the triangular form of the piece.  Body aligns with mind; mind aligns with spirit to complete this thought form.
Flow the long form of flow was placed in a pinwheel spiral catching the flow of energy coming down the back of the mountain.
Union was the central labyrinth.  It aligned with The Om and Alignment forming a strong axis of unity.  The labyrinth conjured the energy of the piece by allowing the viewer to enter one of two ways.  After the way was chosen, each path led to the center and the experience of Union.
Back to Top
Each piece was placed in a 40 foot diameter grass labyrinth.  There were seven labyrinths in all, some using established forms of historical labyrinths, other created by the artist to echo the energy of the pieces.  A labyrinth is defined as a path which leads with certainty to an inner destination as opposed to a maze which is a puzzle to be explored.
Back to Top
Release
Portal
Alignment
Union
Grace
Flow

Back to Top
photo by
Rodney Lay