The Ash Circle
Today’s project was to make the steel band that will from the ash cirlce; it will be placed on the chancel steps at the East-end as a counterpoint to the melting ice in the west tower of the building.
The circle is 64 inches in diameter – my height and will hold a 2 inch depth of wood ash – a material that I use a lot in my work. It is a pale, fragile and beautiful material that for me holds an immense weight of meaning. Here, I use it as the symbol of the ancient hearth – home. It will form the focus for story, music and poetry on Saturday evening.
During the installation participants will be invited to place hand-made beeswax lights into the ash – which as they burn will transform it; in an equivalent manner to the melting ice transforming the steel bowls.
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Getting to the root of things...
Hi Sara!
I looked up the etymology of "wait" and it comes from the Indo-European root weg-2, which means "to be strong, be lively". This root also gives us awake, watch, and witch, and (in an extended form) vigil. So perhaps "wait" is not so passive as it might seem at first sight - more an awake, aware state of being.
Personally, I feel invited by "Ice and Fire" into "contemplation" rather than "waiting". I like the implications of "being with" ("con") and "temple" - which in its original form meant a space marked out for observation or augury. I feel invited into active participation in sacred space and time - with its rhythm of stillness, silence, meditation and attention on the one hand, and activity on the other.
I was wondering about "attending" as a tagline word, and I like the fact that an extended form of the tem- root gives us "tend".
This is exactly how I view your role in bringing the work to fruition, and the participants' too, in bringing the work to a new level.
However, I'd like to suggest "contemplation" for the tagline…..
It seems to me also that "Ice and Fire" is creating a true Alchemist's Laboratory - the dynamic balance of labor: labour, and oratory: reverence.
The Indo-European root or- means to pronounce a ritual formula. It gives oracle, oration etc, but also adore and inexorable. I also like the fact that in Italian ora means hour, time, and now.
And there it is in the middle of "transf-or-mation" - I've only just seen that! And transformation (both inner and outer), as we know, was the central focus of alchemy.
Best of luck DW
I looked up the etymology of "wait" and it comes from the Indo-European root weg-2, which means "to be strong, be lively". This root also gives us awake, watch, and witch, and (in an extended form) vigil. So perhaps "wait" is not so passive as it might seem at first sight - more an awake, aware state of being.
Personally, I feel invited by "Ice and Fire" into "contemplation" rather than "waiting". I like the implications of "being with" ("con") and "temple" - which in its original form meant a space marked out for observation or augury. I feel invited into active participation in sacred space and time - with its rhythm of stillness, silence, meditation and attention on the one hand, and activity on the other.
I was wondering about "attending" as a tagline word, and I like the fact that an extended form of the tem- root gives us "tend".
This is exactly how I view your role in bringing the work to fruition, and the participants' too, in bringing the work to a new level.
However, I'd like to suggest "contemplation" for the tagline…..
It seems to me also that "Ice and Fire" is creating a true Alchemist's Laboratory - the dynamic balance of labor: labour, and oratory: reverence.
The Indo-European root or- means to pronounce a ritual formula. It gives oracle, oration etc, but also adore and inexorable. I also like the fact that in Italian ora means hour, time, and now.
And there it is in the middle of "transf-or-mation" - I've only just seen that! And transformation (both inner and outer), as we know, was the central focus of alchemy.
Best of luck DW
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
A letter from a friend....
I received this email from a friend and thought I would pass it on, since it's got me thinking. Any thoughts on an alternative tagline?
"Your Ice and Fire project is so exciting! ... but something's been bothering me about the Awaiting bit of the "Awaiting Transformation" tagline, and I just want to share these thoughts with you, in a somewhat "thinking aloud" fashion.
The great fundamental mystery is that everything is constantly in a state of transformation - as Tradition knows: eg. Taoism (I Ching - the Book of Changes), Heraclitis, alchemy and now quantum physics.
"Everything flows and nothing stays.
Everything flows and nothing abides.
Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.
Everything flows; nothing remains.
All is flux, nothing is stationary.
All is flux, nothing stays still.
Nothing endures but change."
From Lives of the Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius
I often wonder whether the "Waiting" we think we're doing is an aspect of Christian teaching (and other religions? cultures?) - waiting for redemption, resurrection etc - when in fact transformation is happening all the time. What we are actually waiting for is for the Personality to stop being resistant to and afraid of change - to become conscious of and to participate in that mystery. "Waiting" can be a way of putting off engaging with Life as fully as we can.
The first principle of Taoism (and Buddhism?) is to let go of that attachment to permanence and to presumed certainty in order to learn to observe, accept, and flow with the cycles of change that are fundamental to Life - the dance of yin and yang, the fluidity of the Tao - or of Mercury in the alchemical tradition.
What we're "Waiting" for is not so much transformation, as for our own Personality to get out of the way! Only then can transformation flow without obstruction.
Changes in consciousness of course have their own rhythms, too, and contemplative practices aim to speed that up in the course of a lifetime. In these traditions there is also the really important aspect of Intention - which to me has a sense of action and purpose coming from within, compared with the passivity of Awaiting for something to happen, perhaps by outside agency. But at the same time, it's important not to be attached to the idea of how or when change may happen....
Intention is so powerful. Many traditions believe that we create our lives through the power of thought: our lives are mirrors of our basic beliefs, conscious or not. If we intend to "wait", then "waiting" is what will continue to happen! But if we want transformation (for ourselves, for the planet), then "Why wait?"
If the tagline doesn't get in the way, what "Ice and Fire" offers in vessel-loads is the chance to be present with a process of Transformation, to pay attention to it, to live it consciously, to con-templ-ate it, to be with it in its sacredness - happening now and all the way through, not something to wait for.
And as we know from Quantum Physics/Prayer/Meditation, the intentional being with it will also affect the process itself.
Wow! What a gift you're offering and how powerful it could be!"
"Your Ice and Fire project is so exciting! ... but something's been bothering me about the Awaiting bit of the "Awaiting Transformation" tagline, and I just want to share these thoughts with you, in a somewhat "thinking aloud" fashion.
The great fundamental mystery is that everything is constantly in a state of transformation - as Tradition knows: eg. Taoism (I Ching - the Book of Changes), Heraclitis, alchemy and now quantum physics.
"Everything flows and nothing stays.
Everything flows and nothing abides.
Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.
Everything flows; nothing remains.
All is flux, nothing is stationary.
All is flux, nothing stays still.
Nothing endures but change."
From Lives of the Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius
I often wonder whether the "Waiting" we think we're doing is an aspect of Christian teaching (and other religions? cultures?) - waiting for redemption, resurrection etc - when in fact transformation is happening all the time. What we are actually waiting for is for the Personality to stop being resistant to and afraid of change - to become conscious of and to participate in that mystery. "Waiting" can be a way of putting off engaging with Life as fully as we can.
The first principle of Taoism (and Buddhism?) is to let go of that attachment to permanence and to presumed certainty in order to learn to observe, accept, and flow with the cycles of change that are fundamental to Life - the dance of yin and yang, the fluidity of the Tao - or of Mercury in the alchemical tradition.
What we're "Waiting" for is not so much transformation, as for our own Personality to get out of the way! Only then can transformation flow without obstruction.
Changes in consciousness of course have their own rhythms, too, and contemplative practices aim to speed that up in the course of a lifetime. In these traditions there is also the really important aspect of Intention - which to me has a sense of action and purpose coming from within, compared with the passivity of Awaiting for something to happen, perhaps by outside agency. But at the same time, it's important not to be attached to the idea of how or when change may happen....
Intention is so powerful. Many traditions believe that we create our lives through the power of thought: our lives are mirrors of our basic beliefs, conscious or not. If we intend to "wait", then "waiting" is what will continue to happen! But if we want transformation (for ourselves, for the planet), then "Why wait?"
If the tagline doesn't get in the way, what "Ice and Fire" offers in vessel-loads is the chance to be present with a process of Transformation, to pay attention to it, to live it consciously, to con-templ-ate it, to be with it in its sacredness - happening now and all the way through, not something to wait for.
And as we know from Quantum Physics/Prayer/Meditation, the intentional being with it will also affect the process itself.
Wow! What a gift you're offering and how powerful it could be!"
Monday, 15 February 2010
Friday, 12 February 2010
"The soul's sap quivers...."
I have reread part of TS Eliot's 'Little Gidding' this afternoon, and was struck again my the resonance between the poem and the ethos of Ice and Fire. Time caught between melting and freezing - suspended - chilling the heart - the glare like pentecostal fire off a watery mirror. I am very much looking forward to working with 'The Fire Poet' Philip Wells to see how words interact with the work.
"Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.
When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,
The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,
In windless cold that is the heart's heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier,
Stirs the dumb spirit: no wind, but pentecostal fire
In the dark time of the year. Between melting and freezing
The soul's sap quivers...."
Back to the workshop tomorrow for another kind of fiery encounter.
"Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.
When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,
The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,
In windless cold that is the heart's heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier,
Stirs the dumb spirit: no wind, but pentecostal fire
In the dark time of the year. Between melting and freezing
The soul's sap quivers...."
Back to the workshop tomorrow for another kind of fiery encounter.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
connecting above and below
I envisage this blog being a sort of online diary crossed with a project sketchbook. It will be a useful journal if I can keep to it…I hope it’s of interest.
Wednesday 3 February: Offered the chance to meet the St Ethelburga’s team behind the scenes as it were. It was great to meet them and hear a little about their amazingly multi-faceted programme. It also saw some project practicalities being addressed - like how to suspend a block of ice in the West Tower of St Ethelburga’s' Center!
Not an every day sort of problem! An elegant solution to hanging the ice is a challenge and the solution needs to be almost invisible or at least not to call attention to itself. I want the ice to hang high in the space so that it is out of the viewer’s felt space at first. The linen clothe frozen into the ice is about 8 foot long so I would like the ice to be at least 10 feet above the floor at the start of the event. In this way the gap between the ice and the melt water is maximized – the long drop of the water creating an active void between the elements:
– ice,water........steel. The force of the water drops hitting metal will also create a sound-piece for the musician and poet to respond to.
I am investigating hanging the ice with stainless steel cable but needed to discover if there was any way to suspend it directly from the belfry. Access to the tower if via a narrow roof light and across the lead roof but I have to admit to chickening out when I stuck my head through the roof light window and saw what the journey entailed…chicken!
However, the wonderful Jeff-the-caretaker came to the rescue and braved the ascent; he discovered a large removable panel in the tower ceiling. Wonderful news. This means that a single drop of wire is all that is required and a tall set of step ladders
We also discussed the size of the vessels that would collect the melt-water…and decided that two foot diameter bowls would suit the scale of the space. There will be twelve bowls in total - a new one placed under the ice every 2 hours. I like the idea that others would do this as part of a communal making of the work; a shared attention.
Saturday 6 February: Today I started making the steel frame for the ash circle – I love the alchemical magic of working with metal. The gas welder liquefies steel/ copper welding bar so that it flows like glowing syrup. I especially enjoy the showers of sparks that blast from an angle grinder - a wonderfully noisy firework display creating showers of pale gold sparks that gush off the metal, hitting the walls, my visor and then landing on top of my head. A bit painful but worth it!
Wednesday 3 February: Offered the chance to meet the St Ethelburga’s team behind the scenes as it were. It was great to meet them and hear a little about their amazingly multi-faceted programme. It also saw some project practicalities being addressed - like how to suspend a block of ice in the West Tower of St Ethelburga’s' Center!
Not an every day sort of problem! An elegant solution to hanging the ice is a challenge and the solution needs to be almost invisible or at least not to call attention to itself. I want the ice to hang high in the space so that it is out of the viewer’s felt space at first. The linen clothe frozen into the ice is about 8 foot long so I would like the ice to be at least 10 feet above the floor at the start of the event. In this way the gap between the ice and the melt water is maximized – the long drop of the water creating an active void between the elements:
– ice,water........steel. The force of the water drops hitting metal will also create a sound-piece for the musician and poet to respond to.
I am investigating hanging the ice with stainless steel cable but needed to discover if there was any way to suspend it directly from the belfry. Access to the tower if via a narrow roof light and across the lead roof but I have to admit to chickening out when I stuck my head through the roof light window and saw what the journey entailed…chicken!
However, the wonderful Jeff-the-caretaker came to the rescue and braved the ascent; he discovered a large removable panel in the tower ceiling. Wonderful news. This means that a single drop of wire is all that is required and a tall set of step ladders
We also discussed the size of the vessels that would collect the melt-water…and decided that two foot diameter bowls would suit the scale of the space. There will be twelve bowls in total - a new one placed under the ice every 2 hours. I like the idea that others would do this as part of a communal making of the work; a shared attention.At 1pm a short reading followed by 15 minutes of shared silence seemed a very good way to finish the morning before a delicious lunch of homemade soup and cheeses. I was asked to talk a little about the project, and said that I wanted the ice to be made of Thames water…which raised the question of where I was going to get the water from….and how….
The trap door into the belfry is welcome find as it simplifies the hanging of the ice...
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