The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.
From Essential Rumi
by Coleman Barks
I've been listening again to one of my favorite pieces of music, Monsters of Grace, by Philip Glass. Beautiful, ethereal and otherworldly, the text is based on the poems of Rumi. These fields of dots take me to such places and that's why I love making them....I am transported to that opening where the two worlds (any two worlds....infinite worlds) touch....where an unnamed presence is able to move unseen. I cannot find ways to speak of it, except by laying one dot, one small particle, next to another.
I've been trying to think of the name of this series (more are in progress), but it occurred to me that these are also nocturnes like the ones I began last fall at the residency in Wyoming. For those of you that haven't seen any of these, here is one from the series and the rest can be seen on my website. For now, the series is called The Second Nocturnes.
Earlier in the week, as I was making dots, I began to realize that the world these dots evoke could be superimposed on something more concrete, an image more tangible. I immediately found some of the old photographs my mother took from her youth and made some photocopies to see what happened.
This field of dots is layered on a copy of a photograph of my own mother and father in their happy youth while my father was in the Navy during World War II. They are both gone now, my mother's an unhappy ending with alcohol, my father's a long life lived even with a weak heart. I know how those lives unfolded....in their innocence at the moment of this photograph, how could they know where their life would take them. Maybe that's the reason I find it so compelling and I'm curious for your reaction. Does this layer of dots perhaps evoke something unnameable and does it hold possibilities for creating a new layer of meaning, for moving an ordinary snapshot closer to the threshold where the things move easily back and forth. Perhaps for you it is just an old photograph with a pattern of dots. And that brings me to another big question....what is it that makes something transcendent? And what does it mean to be transcendent? That's what I'm after in the work. I am so happy when there are even momentary glimpses.
If we can make our daily lives more transcendent....wouldn't we be floating through life? I don't feel as if I'm floating, but as long as I have glimpses through art, music and literature, my life feels connected to something much larger and I am lifted ever so slightly from my plodding. I'll leave you with the latest dailies from MissouriBendMusings. Have a great weekend!
May 29, 2012
May 30, 2012
May 31, 2012
June 1, 2012
Patti, I find what you've done with your parents' photo very beautiful...I also think art is about communicating those tantalizing glimpses of something larger that we sometimes access in our day to day lives.
ReplyDeletexoxo Deborah
Deborah....thanks for your response and your support. I think you are right....communicating those tantalizing glimpses of something larger is the key!
DeleteYour post gave me a lot to think about. I love your thoughts on connecting with art, music and literature. The dots give a sense of 'mystery' to the photo which seems so appropriate because no matter how well we know someone there is always a bit of mystery left behind. You've given a depth to your parents photo that is beautiful. Perhaps you might want to call this series 'trancendence' as it seems you are seeking and achieving it as you create.
ReplyDeleteHi Penny....thank you! It's good to hear that those are not just dots, but a layer of a mysterious something. I realized later in the day that the series should be called transcendence, but I'm really glad to hear you say it too....I'm going to go change it on my website! Thanks again.
DeleteInteresting work with the photo. I like that you've both brought out a new depth to the old image while also concealing it - it seems a sort of metaphor of our own histories, how we are there in time at some starting point not yet knowing how life will add dot after dot of experience to us, how these bits that gather and stick to us sometimes form patterns, sometimes makes us better, sometimes just feel random and blocking out some essential initial truth. I also like that you've taken this happy couple and made of their image a universe. Aren't we all both of the earth and beyond it?
ReplyDeleteYour use of dots also reminds me of mosaics or sand paintings, how putting together small pieces can create such a rich texture. Beautiful work and a lovely direction to be taking! Can't wait to see what happens next!
Gabriella....you always have such an interesting take on what you see and experience....and are able to articulate your thoughts so well!! Many thanks for your insights and encouragement, my dear!! So many possibilities await!
Deletemust be something in the air. i just used the first line of the rumi quote in a word piece i finished last week. i've been experimenting with dots a lot as well.
ReplyDeletethe dots on top of the photo are pure magic. i can not wait to see more of this series!
Anca....thank you!! Pure magic is what I hoped to hear, although I didn't know it....that's what I'm after! We are so often on the same wavelength....or dot point....or breathing the same air!
DeleteCheers!
I think it is beautiful and while I can't put it into words it does have an other worldly feeling. I too am searching for transcendent in my work (and life), sometimes it happens and sometimes not.
ReplyDeleteAnnie....thank you....and I'm certainly fine with knowing you can't put it into words....in a way, that's my goal....to get at those things we can't articulate. Sometimes things are too large, are difficult to capture....it's enough that you think it's beautiful. Transcendence is fleeting, to be sure! Thank you for your comment!
DeleteI imagine the dots are very meditative and take you away from the world for a bit...I love the dots on the photo as well - a reminder that we can't know the past perfectly. Aboriginal artists here use dots a lot and it is a beautiful pattern and remembering which can portray lots of different meanings. I love the nocturnes too. A lovely wander as I return...
ReplyDeleteHello Fiona...I know you've been through a tough time of late! I know of the Aboriginal artists using dots, but do need to do some more research...you've piqued my curiosity again. Any recommendations? Glad you like these pieces and sense their meditative qualities. Best wishes for fully restored health at your house!
DeleteI wrote a couple of lines here and then looked out the window, pondering transcendence, and poof my writing disappeared.
ReplyDeleteI love connecting the photo and the dots. It does speak to time, nostalgia, temporary-ness. What is transcendence...that is a big question! I would write too much if I got started on that subject!!
You have to watch out for that transcendence stuff Marchi....moves freely through walls and windows and now it's carried your words off to another time and place! Thanks for your comment....and your thoughts about the work. Best wishes to you!
DeleteP- agree with F - repeated dots must be very meditative - much like the hammer struck on metal. Love the words "glimpses thru art". Go well. B
ReplyDelete