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Spirit Gate, a ceremonial gateway

Spirit Gate today photographed by Dan Gross

 A friend just sent me a photo of this sculpture in San Jose, California, wondering if it was one of my public art pieces. Yes, one of my favorites! Spirit Gate located on The Alameda was designed as a ceremonial gateway for Hester School and installed in 2000. It was a collaboration between myself, Bill Gould, and the students and teachers, and supported by a Public Art in Communities Grant.  

As in my 2D art, we focused on  archetypal symbols inspired by the ancients - the circle and the vesica piscis.  We worked with the students to choose 'power words'  that are cut into the eight foot steel gate. The words - spirit, vision, wisdom, dream, honor and inspire - form the inner core while family, school, friendship and community enclose the center. The two stucco columns are embedded with broken tile mosaics created by the students that illustrate local history. 

I like the way it looks like an ancient relic situated in the modern world with a design that transcends time.

Spirit Gate in 2000 with its shadow image

Glen and Bill working with Hester students

Students & teacher creating mosaics for the columns

Discovering Pyramids and Printmaking in Lima

On my trip to Peru, I hadn't expected to find a archeological site in the center of Lima. Actually, according to my reading of blogs and travel sites before leaving, I wasn't supposed to even go to Lima much less have such a great experience.  A fellow artist, Dan Welden, suggested I visit TRESS, a printmaking studio in Miraflores to meet Cristina Dueñas who runs the space. There I met Kathleen O'Connell, an American artist, who showed us her portfolio inspired by Huaca Pucllana, and told us that the pyramid was within 5 minutes walking distance from the studio.

Bunny Eyer, Kathleen O'Connell, Cristina Dueñas 

Print by Kathleen O'Connell

Print by Kathleen O'Connell

Visiting the site, we discovered that the entire structure was built of clay bricks that were dried in the sun, not in a kiln! Thousands were stacked vertically, 'libro' or book style, to create this huge structure. It's hard to fathom how long a process this was.


Huaca Pucllana was an important ceremonial site for the Lima Culture and dates to 200AD.

 Here it sits juxtaposed with Lima's modern cityscape.

As part of my continuing Art Vacation series - I plan to take a group to Peru next May to visit sacred sites and work in the TRESS printmaking studio. Contact me if you are interested. 

Inspiration of the Artist: Energy Vortices and Spirals at Newgrange, Ireland

Entrance Stone, Newgrange

 Before I visited Newgrange in Ireland, the spiral had already become a mainstay of my visual and artistic vocabulary.  But seeing this symbol of renewal and regeneration inscribed into the stones by the hands of the ancients gave me a greater sense of connection with those who had come before me. The huge horizontal entrance stone covered with intertwining spirals is regarded as one of the finest achievements of European Neolithic art.  Some believe the spirals represent energy vortices within the mound. Awe-inspiring and sublime, these simple swirling lines have made their way into my art again and again - from paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture. 

Newgrange, is a prehistoric circular mound, built by a people in touch with the movement of the heavens. The inner chamber is naturally illuminated each dawn on the Winter Solstice. Newgrange was built more than 5,000 years ago - before the Great Pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge - and is part of a complex of mounds in the Boyne River Valley.

From my book, Art and Sacred Sites: Connecting with Spirit of Place: 

I was thrilled to enter the sacred passageway. It was dark, with a low ceiling, and I walked steadily and mindfully towards the small central chamber. There on a pedestal was a large granite vessel, no doubt used for ritual. Some believe that passage mounds such as Newgrange were built to mimic the birth chamber, as sacred space for giving life. It was an incredible feeling to be in this ancient place where, no doubt, extraordinary events had occurred. For me, it was a moment of profound serenity and connection.

 Artwork by the author:

Phoenix, Oil on Canvas, 5' x 10'

Three Wings, Stockton, CA

Monotype, from the Form & Spirit Portfolio


Visit my website to view more images: www.glenrogersart.com

Machu Picchu, Majestic Sacred Site of the Incas

                                  

Machu Picchu, sacred site of the Incas, is so breathtakingly beautiful, so majestic, it takes your breath away.  It was all I had imagined, all I had hoped it would be. With the Urubamba River snaking around the valley below and the tropical jungle enveloping the nearby terrain, it was a jewel beckoning one forward.  I hiked Huanya Picchu - the Mountain overlooking M.P. and felt an expansiveness and connection to those who came before me. 

Connected with other sites in the Sacred Valley by roads, pathways, direction and visual cues, Machu Picchu does not stand alone in the landscape, but is part of a vast system of Inca cities.  (Just like in England, where ley lines or energy lines connect the sacred sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury.) Protected by Pachamama, Mother Earth, one can feel the sensuality of the land. Because Machu Picchu is so isolated, and the trail to get there so convoluted, it is thought to have had such a special significance in the Inca kingdom that people made pilgrimages there.

Huge stones formed temples, buildings unfathomable in this isolated location. How were these boulders moved, cut, and situated with such precision?  Legend tells us that they were 'whipped into place'.  Hmmm....

The Condor

The Sundial

Puquois - Beautiful Spiral Wells in Nazca, Peru

In Nazca Peru, after flying over the mysterious lines in the desert, our guide offered to take us to the 'Aqueducts' or Puquois. I admit, I wasn't really that keen on going - I was imagining Roman  aqueducts that I'd seen in the past. Thank goodness I didn't say it out loud! What a special place!   

Large spirals were dug into the earth with walls created from small stones. One could walk the path down the spiral to the crystal clear source of water.  These beautiful yet utilitarian structures were created by the Nazca people over 2000 years ago as a system to irrigate the arid land.  There are around 36 with most still in use by local farmers.

For a spiral lover like myself, an artist who uses the spiral as inspiration and as a symbol of renewal and regeneration - this was truly a blessing. I felt connected with those who lovingly built these earthen spirals. I took a sip of the spring-fed water and felt I was back in the womb of mother earth.

These ancient earthworks brought to mind artist Robert Smithson's 'Spiral Getty' in Great Salt Lake, Utah from the 1970's. I wonder if he knew of those that came before him....

Nazca Lines - Peru

On May 14, 2015, I flew over the Nazca Lines in a small Cessna.  We were picked up at our hotel in Lima, taxied to the bus station where we had a 7hr bus ride, taken to a hotel for the night, then picked up the next morning for our mystery flight.  Yes, it was a long haul to get there - but well worth it.  I would highly recommend Great Nazca Tours for their excellent care of us.

What a  thrill to fly over this barren landscape and view these mysterious drawings of animals and linear designs.  We saw the hummingbird, parrot, dog, hands, heron, astronaut, and tree layed out in a black and white desert - very eerie.

The drawings - from 50 to 1200 feet in length - were created by scraping away the top layer of the earth to reveal a white sandy loam.  There is also an amazing spread of intersecting geometric lines and trapezoids. They were created over 2000 years ago - but by whom and for what purpose? That's the big question.  There are many theories - were they astronomical calendars, images pointing to water in the desert, or ritual/ceremonial?  Since they can't be seen as complete images from the ground - (just like crop circles) - seems to me they could have had some help - shamans or extraterrestrials??? Check out the astronaut image.....

Condor

Dog

Hands

Hummingbird

Monkey

Trapazoid

Tree

With our co-pilot after the flight