Odyssey Spirit Caves Mom's Bones Tikkun Olam Weaving Totems

 

Weaving and Fiber Sculpture

I work with a variety of looms and armatures, combining traditional weaving and off-loom techniques. Several of my weavings and fiber sculptures are based on myths and rituals represented in ancient texts, and explored further in art, and in poetry. Click on the thumbnails to see the sculptures Kaddish and Anima Mundi. Kaddish: The Old Woman Remembered, emerged after the death of my parents. The piece was further informed by my hearing Kaddish recited several times, at funerals for several Jewish friends, and by Allen Ginsburg's poem/prayer Kaddish written after the death of his mother. My fiber sculpture, Anima Mundi – “world soul" or "spirit of earth” instantiates a Platonic idea continuing to spur and support the idea of the Earth as a living being, and of all living things as connected. Hence, Anima Mundi, a creation in three pieces, an elemental triptych emerging bit by bit over several years, ultimately representing the sacred body of Earth as a mythical bird, with sea for wings beneath a shadowed and swirliing firmament. Further descriptions of the Anima Mundi sculpture occur in the Tikkun Olam section of this website and in my Anima Mundi Gallery.

Purusha/Fergus Dancing on the Face of Death marks my noticing the coincidence of two creation gods (Vedic/Celtic) in horse-form, vibrating into pieces, from which derive all of Creation. Leda and the Swan, was my very first weaving, from 1972. In myth, Leda and the Swan is the story of a woman courted by the Greek god Zeus in the form of a swan. The encounter leads to the birth of Helen, the Helen whose later abduction by the Trojan prince, Paris, leads to the Trojan War. See Yeat's poem. I find it curious that I have come full circle since creating this first piece so long ago, spending years working at the other end of the Leda story, with Homer's Odyssey, weaving the Greek warrior king Odysseus home from the results of that initial mortal/immortal union, the birth of Helen, and the still resonant Trojan War.

Purusha/Fergus: Dancing in the Face of Death

weaving of mythical creator, scintillating into existence

53"h x 27"w x 3"d

Leda and the Swan

irst weaving, superimposing swan head and face of Leda

46"h x 20"w x 4"d