Classes and workshops in mask making, mask performance, and cross disciplinary arts

"Weaver's" was installed in the staircase entryway at Wesley, formed from casts of staff and students. All arts, like dreams, have different layers of meaning. As I worked, I found that the "story" of this progression of hands became clearer to me. It is dedicated to the the community of the Luce Center - for me, it is also a new “telling” of the legend of the Spider Woman, the weaver deity found throughout Native American mythology.

"It’s said that all stories originate in the mind of Spider Woman."

The "Hand and Eye" is the hand of the Divine, from which all inspirations come. Because it's also about the evolution of an idea, which became the arts center at Wesley, the first pair of hands belong to Cathy Kapikian, who retired this year after founding the program more than 25 years ago.

"The Seed Planter"

seemed a fitting progression because all inceptions need visionary collaborators, people who find the means to "ground it into the soil."

Tiles are based on stories told me by those who volunteered their hands. Mr.Tortorici told me that his family came from a village famous for growing olives, and so I made an olive branch. Ms. Oden, who is the Dean, told me she missed the wild storms of her Great Plains homeland, and so I inscribed a storm on her panel.

"The Archeologist"

Dr. Hopkins is an archaeologist who has spent years in the holy lands, so his panel has pottery shards. All endeavors of depth need one who can draw from the past.

Mr. Soulen is a banjo player and a bee keeper, which is why I put a flower on the neck of his instrument. The harmonies of music, and honey, sweeten the mix. Doug Purnell is a painter, providing the hands of the artist. Olaf makes her art from fabric.....she became "The Seamstress". Amy Gray brought "The Gardener", graceful hands offering the "flowering" of an idea. Finally, I included the hands of Colleen Nelson, who has been a community activist all of her life: "The Advocate".

All Weavers, creating a great work together.

Next to last, those of Deborah Sokolove, the new Director of the Luce Center. Deborah says of her Iconic artwork that they are "prayers made visible", and so I titled her panel (she made her own tiles) the "Iconographer". Here is the structure:

“The Divine Hand”, “The Weaver”, “The Seed Planter”, “The Orcharder”, “The Archaeologist”, “The Artist”, “The Administrator” (Art brings aesthetics. And administrators weather storms.), “The Musician” , “The Gardener”, “The Advocate”, “The Seamstress”( A seamstress is one who fine tunes the fabric, mending tears, while activists bring justice, attending to threads that are broken) “The Iconographer” and “Hands of the Future”.

I grew up with a Native American painting that belonged to my father. It showed horses running across a desert - one of the horses was turquoise blue - often this Navajo artist used blue animals to show the presence of Spirit. When I assembled my panels, I found I had an "extra hand", a child's hand. So the last panel is for those who will weave anew the thread.

And for those who are not yet born. The thread has no beginning, and no end.