MEDITATIONS IN ART

I feel Andy Goldsworthy is part of nature. He blends in. He collaborates with nature using his hands and natural tools. We share in his meditation as we watch it appear and say goodbye as it disappears ~ a thoughtful meditation washing into the stillness of your mind. He is the beauty ~ it is that moment he treasures when we are one with nature.

From One Artist to Another

Kari Lonning, an extremely talented fiber artist, posted this wonderful video on FaceBook and I began to search for more information about the artist.

At first, I thought he was like a bird that builds a nest or a spider building his web. But, it was so much more. I learned Andy did not just work with weaving branches and natural fibers, or like the mud-dawber wasp building a home in clay and mud, he also did his work in stone and other materials and many natural settings besides amidst the trees on the hillside. We move with the cycles of the seasons as we observe the artworks of Andy Goldsworthy.

We are part of the art

Watching the artist create and listening to his words helps us feel connected to what he is trying to evoke. More than that, he becomes the work. In his own words, he feels rootless without his work.

The greatest part of the work is sharing it with others, yet in solitude he communes with nature. I feel that everything disappears around him as he focuses on the touch and feel of building the structure. It is a picture of time and space using found materials in nature.

Poetry in Movement

He says he needs to be on his own. And, so too, we all need to be on our own, like the poet Kahil Gibran says, "But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls."

Together in Community

He says we also need company. And he does work with others to create a number of his land works. Like worker bees or ants in a colony, we feed off each other with our society. And, in the end, as with the collapse, Andy explains, "Yet, it can be draining."

The Cycle of Life

We see the circle and the cyclical forms in his work. We see and feel his connection to nature. We are connected to the environment and to the changes in the weather. Who cannot say that a dreary rainy days tells us to stay in bed under the covers, and the new spring says fling open the windows and let the air rush in?

Andy pushes his artwork to the very edge, to the limits of space until it reaches the holding capacity. I think of the structure going to collapse, destruction, decomposition. It is the cycle of life when things are born, nurture, form fulfilled and then the society collapses or the wave breaks onto the beach.

Adding that one thing that brings the structure down. How does it feel? It was almost like he collapsed along with the strucure.

In The Darkness There is Light

Yet he is amazed that he is alive. How did he come to this conclusion? Do you think he looks at that structure as he sits down and sighs, as if it could have been his own demise, his own collapse back to the earth?

Finding Balance

I felt he was devastated by the decomposition of his artwork. It is much like building a castle by the sea and watching it get washed away. As I researched more of his works, he did take this theme that naturally springs to mind. This is the way with artistic creations in nature.

In "Rivers and Tides" Andy builds a sculpture out of driftwood and watches as the tide takes it out to sea. This is a good example of his wonderful work with time. I wonder whether he is stating something about our society? What needs restructuring? What needs to be washed away and rebuilt?

Connecting to Earth, Moon and Sun

We find that we are connected to the earth, the moon and the sun. There are magnetic powers that pull at us in the monthly and yearly cycle of life. The Bay of Fundy has the world's highest tides, and this is where Andy chose to create his work of art. He gives us a peek at a powerful force of nature.

I have been thinking, "What is the ‘thread that binds’ all his pieces?" It feels so exhilarating when the building of each structure begins and moves to form a shape. And then watching it suddenly fall apart or slowly deconstruct.

It feels like another plane. He says, “It doesn’t feel like destruction.” It is like that cycle of turning. I really feel life and death in his artwork. You’ve touched the heart of the place. To me his work is the story of life from it’s beginning of birth of an idea into a material form and then fading away into chaos again.

Meditation as an Alternative Form of Healing

ARCHIVE: Andy Goldsworthy Archives 12 Years of Poetry

Debby Bruck, CHOM is a student of Kabbalah and Homeopath. She teaches qigong, healing movement, guided imagery, and meditation. Debby believes that homeopathy is the wave of the future that provides hope and healing to those who have tried every other approach. Visit thisblog or follow Debby on Twitter or become a member of Homeopathy World Community and check out the remedy kits under the Marketplace.

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