Primordial Dawn

The vertical sculpture “Baby” includes 4 organic shapes that frame the body of a sleeping infant.  These shapes were very important during the carving process and reminded me of a rising yellow sun, a triangle of amber earth, a wavy watery line, and a weedy kale shape. When combined they could represent the continuous easing and ebbing tide.  Sometimes I am too rushed to touch the dawn of morning and this rubbing could show the simplicity of an early summer sunrise over a full high tide – a primordial dawn – as a reminder of life’s ebb and flow.

Sculpting the new baby life was fun to do;  each shape was pounded out and sanded smooth. I knew where I was going with the carving but deriving the 2-D image has been illusive.

I  purchased several weights of cotton muslin to experiment with and shrank it with various acrylic color washes.  Reasonably certain my arrangement of shapes would represent my idea, the color wash placement and the combination of both wet and dry media suggested that the next attempt, slightly different, would produce an even better result. Needless to say I have more work to do with this.

What is primordial dawn anyway?  Is it a ‘dawn’ of a new process?  Is it an elementary enzyme mass coagulating sequentially into a physical living primordial pulse? Life from the sea? Is it the psychic awareness of life’s awakening and retreating?  “Primordial Dawn” is simply the morning sun unveiling a black and weedy rock from the retreating sea. A repeating current. Daily life.

My snapshots show some of my process using common shapes and colors and when I am ready with the very best I can do, Jim will add the photograph.

Christene