I recall, then relocate in the journals a comment from an experiencer of the sculptures. This note refers to the experience of sculpture pieces presented at a local lodge.
“I am still very much under the spell of your work, after experiencing it and meeting you this afternoon. I am so happy that you will be showing the pieces…at our home…I must say I was deeply inspired by two desires when I asked you to do so. One, perhaps selfishly, I instantly wanted to experience the work in my own space. I didn’t want to say goodbye to it. Secondly, I am overwhelmed with the desire to watch other people experience the work. Will they be as deeply affected as I? (I saw today as I revisited the pieces, that yes they will.) How will it affect them? Which ones will they touch and caress? I cannot describe the powerful effect that your sculpture and accompanying writing has had on me, only that it has. S.B.“
I was inspired by this response to the experience of the sculptures. This expression added reinforcement to my feeling that there had been, in the sculpting process and in the sculptures themselves, some kind of enduring expression that was being picked up by persons other than myself.
I was eager to explore this possibility with more sculpting. In the meantime there were more indications similar to this brief note that people other than me were sensing that something unusual might be going on.
Consider this comment from a gallery experience.
“I don’t know why, I just got the shivers when I came into the room with these pieces.” D.V.
Or, another note
A comment from a gallery experience
“I’ve seen its eyes”
This person, a young European traveler, had been sketching in the gallery.
She came into my studio.
“I’ve seen its eyes,” she said.
“Which sculpture?” I inquired.
“The one with the canoe,” she replied.
“I’ve never seen its eyes,” I said, “please show me.”
She led me to the gallery,
I saw its eyes for the first time.
I requested,
“Will you please write a note about your experience?”
She wrote.
“As I stayed with you for a long time
Sitting on the floor, trying to draw you,
you appeared, slowly, shy.
Scared but curious you look at me.
I don’t move, fixed in this moment.
Now I know you are alive, and with the depth of your eyes,
you just want to connect with me.
What I feel, you feel.
Maybe we are the same.
We just have to be born a second time (transformation)
to be confident, and express our feelings and our thinking.
With the life you had, you will be my teacher.
I want to learn about you. Just tell me…
We don’t need to speak.
We just look at each other.”
Christine
Days pass
In the sculpture, expressed within what I interpret as the spiritual realm of the sculpture, not only is everyone connected yet also there is a blending where one human form is another, then part of another. The forms are subtle. I am wondering if other viewers will see those forms.
I am finding this sculpture to be personally provocative.
