Sometimes I wonder; Do I paint my own retina to fall asleep - and wake up - to...?

"When the soul wishes to experience something she throws an image of the experience out before her and enters into her own image."
(M. Eckhart)


Sunday, May 26, 2013

Forest Temple; A painting becoming an installation, at 'Art Sanctuary's Enchanted Garden - 2013'

My primary work this year is what I call “(the interior of a) ‘Forest Temple’ “  -  the evolution of one painting in progress through more than 25 years of my life; 1988/89 – 2013; a journey that took me from Norway to US, and back again, through many experiences…..and finally my arrival  here at Art Sanctuary (Belgium); where beautiful dreams were realized.
And then experiencing my mother’s sudden passing (3/8-2012).
My mourning brought me again to the forest…. a young and vibrant forest growing right here in this very garden... Where I could let my thoughts run, like the threads which always accompanied my mother; in her making and mending of fish nets, in her constant knitting, and in her ever present companion, the fish line... threads, threads, and threads again....
 
 - And again this particular painting appeared to guide my way:
To make an interior 'Forest Temple', with tapestries:



And so this painting - of a 'Flight - Five Crows Flying' (orig. title in 1988) becoming  'Forest Temple' -  now evolved into an interior space, an installation: - with tapestries (threads), an earth floor, and a source (of inspiration from a forest).
Inside 'Forest temple' (photo: Ann Schmitz)


This little book is my attempt to tell a bit of the story of this painting 'Forest Temple':
 (Click on image to preview book)

 'Forest Temple' - the installation -  has a very special and beautiful  sound installation created by Nicky Bendix


Ja, det er den drømmen
Noe vidunderlig har skjedd
det måtte skje
da tiden åpnet seg
og berget åpnet seg
da kilden sprang
og åpnet hjertet
for at vi en morgenstund
skulle gli inn i verden
på en bølge av drømmer vi ikke visste om.
(Nina Irene Olsen – in response to Olav H. Hauge)
Yes, it is that Dream
Something wonderful has happened
It had to happen
When time opened
and the mountain opened
when the spring gushed forth
and opened the heart
so that we one morning
should glide into the world
on a wave of dreams we didn’t know.
(Nina Irene Olsen – in response to Olav H. Hauge’s poem ‘Det er den draumen’
Transl. Tone Aa. )

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