These are some images from my final slide show I did for my major studio class at Parsons in May 2008. The entire power point slide show will be posted some time in the future, uniVerses was the working title. My love of circles expanded into different domains documented below.
Today, I expand on this quote
BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD -dostoevsky
I saved this business card below from a wonderful clothing boutique in Prescott, AZ called the Llama House. I have hung it on my fridge and in my sight for a few years and now it is specially placed in my sketch book. I have long been inspired by beauty, symmetry, body decoration and outrageous (haute couture) fashion.
In the last few weeks I have received layers of this same message from various sources - resonance with me and this notion of devastating beauty.
A quote from this book
 |
The Gods Are Wise (Atlantean Secrets) by Samuel Sagan
(15.1 page 257)
More than beauty - perfection.
Perfection shakes the depths of your being.
. . . . .
But why did it hurt so much?
Infinite nostalgia versus infinite unity. The sorrows of the kingdom like an abyss under my feet.
Past a certain degree, there is something devastating about beauty.
Such a fine line between opening and being ripped open.
A quote from this cd - Grief and Praise by Martin Prechtel, which you can order from www.floweringmountain.com 
In this talk Martin says:
Praise is a skill. It is not just saying a lot of florid words. The idea of eloquence is to hit the mark. To devastate the other persons hatred with beauty.
A quote from the Tibetan sand painting website, www.namgyal.org/mandalas
Simply viewing a mandala is believed by Buddhists to be enough to change one's mind stream by creating a strong imprint of the beauty of perfection of the Buddha's mind, as is represented in the mandala itself. As a result of this imprint, one may be able to find greater compassion, awareness, and a better sense of well-being.
I personally believe that seeing any great work of art, costume, dress or mandala can create an imprint of the beauty of perfection and create a sense of well-being. This is my goal with my artwork!! Here are s few pictures of dresses, costumes and artwork that I have made over the years.
Ripe Dress
Spring 2008
-seed pods, wire, juju fruit candy, acrylic paint
Armor de Amor
Spring 2007
-agave stalks, gold leafing, silk ribbon, wire, pins, thistle heads, leaves
Sexy Fruit and Vegetable party costume.
Banana (unpeelable)
Fall 2000
-plastic vinyl, beads, snaps
This is a top I hand-sewed out of glass seed beads and peacock feathers. I wore it to a millenium party to celebrate the new century.
Here are images that inspire me from other artists and wearable designers
Latifa Medjdoub www.latifadesign.com
Ron Isaacs 'painted birch construction' life-size
Photo/ Katie Gingrass Gallery Milwaukee, WI
Björk bell dress from her music video "Who Is It"
more desert delight by carolyn schmitz www.desertdada.com
Here are a few images I have saved for years from fashion magazine .. I don't remember which one.
A little bit of my history and artwork ...
The agave plant inspires me so much that for years now I have been calling myself the agave artist. I first discovered the plant in the high desert of Prescott, Arizona. Little Granite Mountain trail has an amazing view of Skull Valley, Arizona and lots of agaves. I just recently returned for a visit to Prescott and I took some pictures of the view and of the agaves in their natural environment.
I was hiking there with a dear friend back in 2001 and I decided to take home all of the leaves from a dried and dead agave plant. This image below is one of the first 2D sculptures I made with them.
suckulent 2002
dress skeleton -in process 2006
At a time in my life when I needed more boundaries and self-protection, I envisioned making armor with the agave plant stalks. I did not have the time or space to make life sized outfits - so I settled on small ones.
armor de amor -miniature dress form- 3' x 2' -gold leafing and silk cloth
suckulent series continued 2007
mini suckulents 2007
storage of stalks
agave from above -symmetrical protection
my acrylic painting from DBG -Desert Botanical Garden Class 2006
handmade Iron Gate at DBG -I did not make- but I much appreciate.
carolyn schmitz's amazing desert dada paintings -more at her website- desertdada.com
In May of 2002, a powerful synchronistic life experience let me know I was on the right track with circle mandalas. I added the story here to share it through a short assignment I wrote back in October 2002 for my BA degree. My interests have not changed, just further refinement of the impulse that was given to me many years ago. Now the new angle emerges of how to make mandala/circle artwork more integrated into the digital world. The words, images and sources below.
The Evolutionary History of My Work With Circles
Sharing my artwork with people is a way of disclosing and
communicating the symbols I value. There are many layers and subtle
meanings in the particular objects I choose and the shapes thus created
with them. This last spring, I began passionately working with
circles. The circle is an archetypal shape that has been interpreted
in many cultures to signify wholeness. I believe my desire to create
objects with circular unity is a reflection of my need for a sense of
harmony and perfection in the outside world. My own search for
wholeness is being manifested through my art.
My attraction to the circle has led me to notice other cultures
around the world that use circles in artwork and as a healing symbol.
I am particularly interested in East Indian philosophy and the ways art
and consciousness blend themselves in their visual expressions.
Tantric art, in the form of yantras, are created as an act of prayer
and meditation.
"The Yantra is an archetypal unit, and in the making of every new yantra the archetypal activity and the divine revelations repeat themselves. Each yantra's consecrated place acts as a dwelling for the gods, a space where movement from the level of profane existence to the level of profound realities is made possible. Symbol and meaning blend so closely that they are one reality, indistinguishable from one another." (page 30 Yantra)
I feel as though my own work with circles taps into a deep well of ancient knowledge that I am just beginning to drink from. The serenity I feel when I gaze on an array of symmetrical circles is amazing and deeply soothing. Words do not quite capture the visual vibrations that settle into my psyche. The following description presents a partial glimpse of the immeasurable symbolism the circle holds.
"…the circle represents the cyclical forces, the contraction and expansion of astronomical revolutions, and the round of cosmic rhythms. Within this image lies the notion that time has no beginning and no end. The farthest region of space and the innermost nucleus of an atomic structure are bound by the constant flow of life and the rhythmic energy of creation. The circle may also be considered, in its concentrated form, as a bindu, or in galactic proportions as the expanding universe; its numerical counterpart is the zero." (page 32 Yantra)
Numerous synchronistic events occurred this last spring that were significant in directing my creative path. I felt the universe was continually affirming and presenting me towards people and books that were aligned with my interests. The first occurrence was when I was working with a mentor, Diane Gilbert, in a Cloth and Cut Paper course, and we were discussing my process of creating a piece I call Suckulent. She discovered that the century plant stalks I sewed in a circle numbered sixteen, a number I arbitrarily picked because the design looked best with that amount of stalks. Sixteen happens to be the number of perfect unity in ancient Indian cosmology.
(Suckulent series)
The second event evolved over the month of May 2002. I traveled to visit my sister in New York and I drew a chalk mandala of circles and geometric designs on the cement sidewalk in front of her house. My parents snapped a picture of it for me and I hung it on my refrigerator. Again my mentor, Diane, visited and later she brought me a book Painted Prayers: Women's Art in Village India by Stephen P. Huyler. The photograph reminded her of an image from this book. The images demonstrate our amazing similarity of design.
(photo in NY driveway taken by my parents May 2002)
(page 192 Painted Prayers)
Another time I was in a local bakery and began a conversation about circle mandalas with a man who had just read a book by Joseph Campbell that explored the ideas about when and why mandalas began appearing in the history of art. I was curious, so he lent me the book The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimensions of Fairy Tales, Legends, and Symbols by Joseph Campbell. He suggests that the appearance of the mandala began after the passing of the hunting age and with the development of agriculture.
"The problem of existing as a mere fraction instead of as a
whole imposes certain stresses on the psyche which no primitive hunter
ever had to endure, and consequently the symbols giving structure and
support to the development of the primitive hunter's psychological
balance were radically different from those that arose in the settled
villages." (page 144 The Flight of the Wild Gander)
Campbell suggests people began create mandalas when they could no
longer take care of all of their own needs and were required to be
interdependent with others. We no longer can fully complete the cycle
of our own lives without outside help. The average person cannot grow
all their own food, spin their own wool, sew their own clothing, create
tools and utensils, refine gas, fix vehicles, and the list goes on and
on. So as a member of modern society, I crave the experience of
completion. My circle mandalas are created out of the tension Campbell
speaks of.
"And we may ask, also, then, whether today, when that economy is giving way to one based on industry, and the cosmological image commensurate with an agricultural horizon has been shattered for us forever- whether today, in this next age of great transformation, the images generated in that earlier period of crisis still are of use, and if so for whom, and why?" (page 146 The Flight of the Wild Gander)
Some of my most recent images resonate intensely with the images of
'that earlier period of crisis' and so I believe my own experiences
have answered this question adequately. Yes, these images are
valuable. They have deep meaning for those people who are willing to
slow down enough to be stimulated by visual splendor. Not everyone can
be lifted to new realms by visual awe; some need the lift to be
auditory, others by massage or delicate flavors.
Another layer to the symbolism of my art is the fact that my images
are created with recycled materials, ordinary resources, and objects
from nature. This choice of materials challenges the aesthetics of our
modern culture by creating beauty out of the ordinary garbage and waste
most people step on, over look and toss out. I use hard rusty metal
bullets mixed with soft feathery light cloth, sharp cactus spines
intermingled with layers of thin reflective dry cleaner bags, and
golden baby bottle nipples placed with tea bag wrappers. Though the
use of textured materials, I explore the dualities of chaos/
simplicity, lightness/ darkness, and masculinity/ femininity.
The path of an artist becomes a full circle when one shares the
privately created work with the public. I received the gift of sharing
artwork with my community at my senior show, Impeccable Assumptions,
June 16- 18, 2002. This dialogue with my audience is the last step I
witness in the process that really never ends.
"Underwear- nipples- cow patties- agave- tea bags- paper- seat belts- paint- box springs- bullets- beads and hair- these are the things that inspire Carrie Mae- but she is inspired by more than this- a woman whose body finds its place in her art- the fluid and clay of her spirit draw in from the periphery of the world around her and extend into these pieces of beauty we see- they are all her, and we find ourselves in them." Angela Stott June 18, 2002
"This is exquisite!!! It is profoundly beautiful. Thank you for your courage, wit and vision." Ellen Greenblum June 18, 2002
"These 'art-ifacts' of our commercial culture and nature are wedded in aesthetic bliss by your artistic eye. These are unique and I predict will elevate 'used' objects to a new plain/ practice of respect. These will make you rightfully famous. Thanks for your resourceressness- a good model for us all in pursuit of a more sustainable world." Terril Shorb June 16, 2002
For me creating art is about connecting to the infinite through finite materials. My trust grows as I continue with this work, as I capture and access the magic the ancient Indian philosophers recognize as available to someone willing to focus and spend time in reflective, creative time. As I create my art, I create myself.
Carrie Mae Kreyche
October 21, 2002
Bibliography
Campbell, Joseph. The Flight of the Wild Gander. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1951.
Huyler,
Stephen P. Painted Prayers: Women's Art in Village
India. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc,
1994.
Khanna, Madhu. Yantra: The Tantric Symbol of Cosmic Unity. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd, 1979.
