Counting the days.... Not sure why, but I'm counting the days.
Where does a digital photographer hang his art? On a jpeg.
The story continues....
****************************
It was going to be perfect! A throne of Swords and King Saul as a giant Werewolf, sitting on it - the epitome of evil.
Well, it did not turn out that way at all. Here’s what happened! I made the throne and set it aside to wait while I made the Werewolf that would sit on it. Finally, when that was done, I took the Werewolf out of the kiln and with great excitement went to seat him on it! To my shock and amazement it did not fit!
What? I’d measured it! Why wasn’t it fitting?
Then I realized that I’d measured him and made him to fit without clothes on! I’d given him a fur like covering that flared out on each side!
So now that he was done, and fired, he just wouldn’t fit and that was that! He was now far too wide!
I was distraught, and upset with myself and I was overwhelmed by the loss of the meaning in my throne!
It took me a while to forgive myself and start to think about possible solutions at the time.
I even had the throne displayed with no one on it, at one of my art shows.
Yes, the guys and men really loved it. Many said things like “Man, I’ve got to have that!” etc. But I realized this sculpture was sending the wrong message! This “Throne of Swords” was not me! I was not a violent person!
It was embarrassing to show such a throne with no explanation other than the violence of swords. I almost took it out of the show, but in the end left it - my mind churning on what to put onto the throne. What could change that pile of metal into something positive and wholesome?
Can you imagine how many artists create something, taking a lot of time and risk, then finding in the end it won’t work! Well, that’s what happened here! It had taken me two years to make....
It got worse. Upon further investigation I discovered that the swords used to make this throne were collected from solders who had died, defeated by this king and his army. These swords for many soldiers represented their personal identity and branding.
These symbols of someone’s life and heritage became part of the throne, placed under this victorious king butt from where he continued to wield his power.
Imagine to take the very weapons used against you and make a throne. It speaks of a deep disrespect for any enemy using their weapons as a symbol of power, his throne, piling further humiliation upon the defeated. A statement to all his enemies of his abject hatred for them. Attempting to continue to put fear into any enemy’s heart and mind!
It didn't even serve him well. I imagine that the throne, a chair which is meant for comfort, couldn’t have been that comfortable. I would suspect he would have had to been careful how he sat on this sharp edged monstrosity!
I tried to envision a piece that would fit into the seat section, giving it the new meaning that I could live with and promote whole heartedly.
Perhaps a child on the seat or re-doing the Werewolf again were possibilities but I could not go there for some reason.
Then months later, an idea began to percolate, it centered on the Biblical saying “turning swords into plow shares.” I kept thinking about how I could show swords changing to something good. Yes - I was going back to my Mennonite roots - right back to Menno Simons teaching the values I had grown up that have stood the test of time and still sustain me.
In processing my experience with ferns in our house and garden, how they unravel from a curl, to piercing swords, then finally unfurling to become feathers was exciting.
I loved the end image being feathers, as they are a metaphoric symbol of a mother birds’ warmth, love, softness and protection! Essentially love!
That was it, feathers unraveling it would be.
I decided to make a bouquet of swords transforming into white-tinged feathers, a way of “making good out of something bad, changing black to white, giving darkness light."
It worked. Now this ceramic throne represents how mankind must, to make life better for themselves and others, turn their anger to love!
Back to the story of King Saul and David. David is an example of this in that he had two occasions where he could have used his sword to kill his enemy king Saul. In each case despite the advice to kill him by his men he refused, attempting to turn evil into good.
But Saul, ensnared in hatred, could not in the end change his lifestyle and destroyed everything his life's calling was built on.
We can change with the help of our all-powerful forgiving God!
Where does a digital photographer hang his art? On a jpeg.
The story continues....
****************************
It was going to be perfect! A throne of Swords and King Saul as a giant Werewolf, sitting on it - the epitome of evil.
Well, it did not turn out that way at all. Here’s what happened! I made the throne and set it aside to wait while I made the Werewolf that would sit on it. Finally, when that was done, I took the Werewolf out of the kiln and with great excitement went to seat him on it! To my shock and amazement it did not fit!
What? I’d measured it! Why wasn’t it fitting?
Then I realized that I’d measured him and made him to fit without clothes on! I’d given him a fur like covering that flared out on each side!
So now that he was done, and fired, he just wouldn’t fit and that was that! He was now far too wide!
I was distraught, and upset with myself and I was overwhelmed by the loss of the meaning in my throne!
It took me a while to forgive myself and start to think about possible solutions at the time.
I even had the throne displayed with no one on it, at one of my art shows.
Yes, the guys and men really loved it. Many said things like “Man, I’ve got to have that!” etc. But I realized this sculpture was sending the wrong message! This “Throne of Swords” was not me! I was not a violent person!
It was embarrassing to show such a throne with no explanation other than the violence of swords. I almost took it out of the show, but in the end left it - my mind churning on what to put onto the throne. What could change that pile of metal into something positive and wholesome?
Can you imagine how many artists create something, taking a lot of time and risk, then finding in the end it won’t work! Well, that’s what happened here! It had taken me two years to make....
It got worse. Upon further investigation I discovered that the swords used to make this throne were collected from solders who had died, defeated by this king and his army. These swords for many soldiers represented their personal identity and branding.
These symbols of someone’s life and heritage became part of the throne, placed under this victorious king butt from where he continued to wield his power.
Imagine to take the very weapons used against you and make a throne. It speaks of a deep disrespect for any enemy using their weapons as a symbol of power, his throne, piling further humiliation upon the defeated. A statement to all his enemies of his abject hatred for them. Attempting to continue to put fear into any enemy’s heart and mind!
It didn't even serve him well. I imagine that the throne, a chair which is meant for comfort, couldn’t have been that comfortable. I would suspect he would have had to been careful how he sat on this sharp edged monstrosity!
I tried to envision a piece that would fit into the seat section, giving it the new meaning that I could live with and promote whole heartedly.
Perhaps a child on the seat or re-doing the Werewolf again were possibilities but I could not go there for some reason.
Then months later, an idea began to percolate, it centered on the Biblical saying “turning swords into plow shares.” I kept thinking about how I could show swords changing to something good. Yes - I was going back to my Mennonite roots - right back to Menno Simons teaching the values I had grown up that have stood the test of time and still sustain me.
In processing my experience with ferns in our house and garden, how they unravel from a curl, to piercing swords, then finally unfurling to become feathers was exciting.
I loved the end image being feathers, as they are a metaphoric symbol of a mother birds’ warmth, love, softness and protection! Essentially love!
That was it, feathers unraveling it would be.
I decided to make a bouquet of swords transforming into white-tinged feathers, a way of “making good out of something bad, changing black to white, giving darkness light."
It worked. Now this ceramic throne represents how mankind must, to make life better for themselves and others, turn their anger to love!
Back to the story of King Saul and David. David is an example of this in that he had two occasions where he could have used his sword to kill his enemy king Saul. In each case despite the advice to kill him by his men he refused, attempting to turn evil into good.
But Saul, ensnared in hatred, could not in the end change his lifestyle and destroyed everything his life's calling was built on.
We can change with the help of our all-powerful forgiving God!
To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation.
We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, “I no longer hold your offense against you”
But there is more.
We also free ourselves from the burden of being
the “offended one.”
As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load.
The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God.
- Henri Nouwen
We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, “I no longer hold your offense against you”
But there is more.
We also free ourselves from the burden of being
the “offended one.”
As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load.
The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God.
- Henri Nouwen
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