I mentioned in my last post about people in the past being more in tune with nature and the spirit world, and thought, since I wanted to explore the metaphysical realms *makes a spooky noise and wiggles fingers* itd be a good idea to look at the myths and legends of the ancients :) . Still using the word connection I thought of Past-Present-Future and then came to the Greek Fates, and then to their contemporaries, The Norns of Norse mythology. These were both groups of three female spirits who existed somewhere outside of time and controlled the destinies of all men, women and gods (as seen in Hercules haha!). For The Fates, I was still trying to get technology in there, so Id come up with this thing with three telegraph poles... but I only had two Pringles tubes and I was feeling INSPIRED, so I made this instead (Ill get back to the old idea... soon...). The Norns were basically the Viking Fates, but whilst the Greek version connects the women with caves, The Norns gather under the world tree Yggdrasil, and Id been interested in using trees for ages. I was seeing trees all the time on my walks... The woodland was a great metaphor for this theme of confusion and knowledge, I still have a lot Id like to do with all that... But one thing thats always stood out for me, I find it so beautiful - a lone tree at the edge of a field on a country road :) And I wanted that sense of sky, and space, something almost desert-like, or at least American Midwest... All that, so I made this! It just so happened that Id bought this hourglass thingy on a whim (and TOTALLY regretted it!) - a wee black square with three glass timers, one with grey sand, one with white, one with black... I hated it cos itd been a careless purchase, and £2.99, but it turned out to be the perfect object to represent The Norns!!! I built the tree around it with the usual materials - Pringles tubes, layers of newspaper and a lot of black paint! I could probably take it further - I like the thought of it suddenly coming to life at some point like a real tree in Spring, or hanging different symbolic objects on it - and Im not sure it says anything profound, but I like the simplicity, and Im happy with it cos its one of the first times I felt Id really given form to something from my own wee internal universe... This lone tree against the sky thing carries on throughout all my later work (stay tuned folks!) :)
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 21:02:14 +0000