Constellations are an invention of the human imagination. They are an expression of a desire to order the chaos of the night sky. For farmers who wanted an agricultural calendar, for shepherds who needed a nightly clock, for navigators and explorers dividing the sky into recognizable groupings, constellations were a practical necessity...(more)
Celestial Calendar - Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall
"Celestial Calendar" consists of four panels, each representing one of four seasons. The calendar, a system of dividing time into days, months, and years based on astronomical cycles, responds to the human need of organizing time. Constellations are an invention of the human imagination. For farmers who wanted an agricultural calendar and for shepherds who needed a nightly clock, dividing the sky into recognizable groupings (constellations) was a practical necessity.
It was the Renaissance astronomers who paved the way for the scientific revolution by questioning the existing systems and dogmas of the time, gradually laying the foundation for the modern concept of the universe.
This ongoing body of work entitled Mysterium Cosmographicum, after Johann Kepler's publication of 1596 bearing the same title, explores the theories, ideas, and discoveries of a number of influential scientists and thinkers of the time.
These works give homage to the bravery, courage, and innovative spirit of these great individuals who, in the face of oppression, paved the way to our current understanding of the vast and mysterious universe.
In an effort to determine the distances between planets in our solar system the great German Astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) determined that the planetary intervals are defined by the relationship between the five regular geometric solids.
In ancient geometry the regular solids held a special, almost sacred significance. Of particular interest to Kepler was their association with the four elements: the cube with Earth, Tetrahedron with Fire, Octahedron with Air, Icosahedron with Water as well as the Dodecahedron's association with the heavens. The Intention was to demonstrate that these geometrical forms were building blocks in creation...(more)
Since the early twentieth century artists have investigated themes
or forms associated with the cosmos, and I am no exception. In particular,
I am attracted to the formal possibilities inherent in the geometry
and the universal mathematical order that have been associated with
the cosmos since the time of Pythagoras. The geometric elements
in this series were inspired by the sketches and writings of Giordano
Bruno included in his publication, Articulus adversus mathematicos,
where he wrote of philosophy and mathematics.
Giordano Bruno was born in Nola near Naples in 1548. His exceptional
intellectual abilities were soon noticed and he entered into the
Dominican Monastery in Naples where he studied, among other things,
Aristotelian philosophy. When he began to postulate his own ideas
of the Universe he came to the attention of the Inquisition in Naples
and then in Rome. To avoid persecution he left Italy in 1576 to
live in France, England, and Germany where he studied, taught, and
published many books...(more)
This body of work speaks of the mystery, beauty, and interconnectedness
of the ideas inherent in ancient mystical traditions. My interests
are also in the points of intersection between science and spirituality,
both ancient and contemporary.
Some of my visual source materials are found in the charting and
diagraming records of various religious systems, as well as in the
melding of early celestial mapping with the religious beliefs of
their corresponding eras.
Of primary importance to me are the connections and similarities
found in seemingly (or expectedly) differing spiritual belief systems.
This process of visual investigation ties in directly to my own
evolutionary search for clarity, peace, and truth...(more)
DNA researchers have discovered that four amino acids - adenine,
thymine, guanine, and cytosine - form themselves in various combinations
that are sequenced into patterns upon which all life is built. Each
pattern holds in it a genetic code that determines all of our genetic
characteristics...(more)
King Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel, was an infamous
and legendary monarch and magician of the tenth century B. C. He
was renowned for his wisdom and revered for what was believed to
be supernatural powers. Webster's dictionary definition of science
is "the attainment of knowledge through practice and study
as well as the creation of a realm of systematized knowledge"...(more)
When preparing copper plates for the intaglio printing process,
I often feel like a primitive scientist of some sort working in
the laboratory; heating copper plates,melting rosin,etching with
acids,dissolving with solvents, all to reach a level of experimentation
that may or may not bear fruitful results...(more)
