CEREMONIAL PLAZA
Another fine meeting I have gotten myself into…
In the daze of boredom, the flood of information, the pain of the stopped clock; I cannot even remember what this piece was about. So it is a ceremonial plaza somewhere in my mind.
MEDALLION OF NOLA PAST
The houses here on St. Charles, and other parts of New Orleans when this city actually made a profit, once had monstrous chandeliers expanding downward like the gardens of Babylon made of glass.
The chandeliers are long gone, eaten up by estate sales or traveling carpet-baggers. Yet the moldings, tasked with the immense job of holding those things up, remain as sad medallions to the city’s former glory.
HOUSE OF M
I am not sure why there is an M at the center of this mandala, perhaps I was drawing runes and it suddenly dawned on me to put it in the center. Regardless if there is a House of M, this belongs on the front door.
ODIN RA
Months ago I bought an excellent book, The Encyclopedia of Symbols, which also has a companion site at www.symbols.com. The website offers a random image link. During the proctoring of an exam (I know, I know, I should be looking at the students) I clicked on the link and drew whatever symbols appealed to me wherever they were ‘needed’.
The result is this strange fusion of Odin and Mayan culture.
FOR MICHAEL
The brother of a friend suddenly died while I was in another wonderful teacher’s conferences. I knew he was sick and on the verge of passing when this picture appeared in my moleskine.
It likens to the Moon card in the tarot deck and holds the gate between the two worlds.
SCEPTER
If the Egyptians would have been the Vatican in some strange alternate world, perhaps that Ra- pope would have held this icon as his scepter
OOOZE
Not sure what was going through my head when the fingers penned this one. Somewhere between semen and hurricanes this oooze came forth. People have called this one, organic.
TERRY’S BEADS
I have a good friend that is into beadwork. For a long time we have thought of collaborating on a piece- bringing the mandalas into 3-D. After discussing the possibilities here is something that I think would fit the bill.
ROSARY GARDEN- April 2010
Labyrinths, mandalas and rosaries have long been used to meditate and, quite honestly, to pass the time. I combined the three philosophies to create this piece. Yes, at the convention once again…
AZTEC TATTOO
At the convention I sat through seminarists trying to teach me how to teach. Fortunately I had the grand baby-sitter. Many of my students have since seen this piece and wanted it as a tattoo, thus the title. The skull in the middle really draws me to it.
MILLEAPOLIS- April 2010
I went to a long-drawn out teacher’s convention in Minneapolis. I liked the city more than the convention- a very nordic metropolis. The river was lined with fossilized grain mills once powered by the Mississippi (I did not even know the Old Man ran that far north).
The angular skyscrapers, compact downtown, pedestrian tunnels and ancient mills brought about this.
I discovered gluten, the process of extracting protein from wheat as a meat-substitute. While proctoring an exam, I made this up as a sort of logo for this future world-saving-gluten organization that will one day come about.
