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(scroll down to see this transition in progress) I tend to work out the seeds for my artistic ideas by drawing in journals or doodling across the pages of whatever book I happen to be reading when inspiration strikes ~ sacrilegious no doubt, but I always read with pen in hand so that no book is safe from having a few words or lines scribbled here and there. Those images and thoughts lodge deep in my imagination to meld and evolve until I get an overpowering urge to bring them to light in paint & print or clay & glass. Although I love to lose myself in a good book (especially one that just happens to fall off the shelf as I walk by), I tend to have 4 or 5 going at a time, one of which is most usually by an author like Joseph Campbell, Marija Gimbutas, Carl Jung, or Elaine Pagels (some of my favorites). If you were to arrange the various books, drawings, & journals of my library in chronologic order using the dates noted upon their front leaves & throughout the inner pages, you would find a seemingly tangled thread that would lead you through a spiritual maze to the very soul of my creative center! The World Tree series (outlined in the photos above & below) began with a couple of journal entries made as part of my ongoing quest to find the Many Faces of Truth that are hidden beneath the veneers of modern beliefs, existing merely as disappearing shadows of nature, obscured stories in world mythologies, and crumbling rubble among the prehistoric art of ancient cultures. Sometimes you have to crack the nut to get at the kernal of truth hidden deep inside ~ but there's a little meat in every nut, so I keep digging, drawing, & creating! ~ jamie j mckay | I worked several drawings from my journals into pieces for a print; then I used them to inspire a clay tile and mold, which I later used to make wax models that I cast in glass. Her Sacred Ways ©Jamie McKay 2005 Copper Etch & Chine Colle Collage Print I love texture and line, flowing color, & everything melding into Carl Jung's infamous "Collective Unconscious". Tree of Remembering | This tile was created at Kirkland Arts Center (& fired by Pat Colyar). I worked w/ instructor Steve Gardner to create a 5 part clay press mold so I could make more tiles in wax for glass casting. See Favorite Instructor link for more info on Steve Gardner -- excellent instructor! World Tree in Clay ©Jamie McKay 2005 Bas Relief Clay Tile Yes that's a crack running thru this tile. Occassionally a casting goes awry in the kiln, which makes me think, "quick photograph it before it cracks into a million pieces!" This one obviously needs more experimentation with the recycled glass formula over the summer, but I think the overall design works quite well. World Tree ©Jamie McKay 2007 Open Face Kiln Casting Recycled Glass |
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