Thread of Life Installation Overview

“The Thread of Life”

It is human nature to personify what we don’t understand. An example is Greek mythology in which the concepts of war, love and fate are personified by the gods. The Fates in Greek mythology symbolize the idea of spinning, measuring and cutting a thread, whose length corresponds to a mortal’s lifespan. The Fates embody the idea of “other hands” that decide on human fate.

There is an endless chain of change. Lives can be re-directed because of one event, action or spoken word. Do people realize how many lives they inadvertently touch and how they could casually empower or destroy another’s life?

My goal with this work is to contrast the idea of free will, where there is an act or power of making one’s own choices or decisions, to a realm where “hands” seem to reach out and make our choices. Perhaps instead of one extreme, there is a balance between what is fated and what is chosen.

The act of modeling a clay figure allows my hands to choose every aspect of form and concept within that piece, even when deciding on layers of glaze and texture to suggest mortality and frailty in our lives. I do not discount the “accidents” in my pieces they pose the question was the accident intentional to lead to new paths or ideas, or to the destruction of the work.

There are certain events of fate that are individual, while others relate to everyone. My thoughts on fate began with the events at Virginia Tech University on April 16, 2007. They led me to think of how we believe we are in control, but one person can ultimately change the lives of others. The shootings also led me to think about specific circumstances of fate in my own life. Relationships in life come from small encounters; it is through these encounters we meet those special people in our lives.

My idea of fate started with a universal tragedy and oddly enough, it circled back to a personal one. An old friend recently passed away un-expectantly just as his family was going to surprise him with news that they found a way for him to be closer to home the same week he died. I had last spoken to him two weeks before he died on his birthday.

I encourage the viewers to think about their lives with regards to the paths they may think they choose and the spontaneous events that altar them.