Carol Mackay Mertz

What is at the center of something that makes it true?

The kernel of wisdom that explains all.

kernel |ˈkərnl|
noun
a softer, usually edible part of a nut, seed, or fruit stone contained within its hard shell.
• [ in sing. ] the central or most important part of something: this is the kernel of the argument.
• the most basic level or core of an operating system of a computer, responsible for resource allocation, file management, and security. (New Oxford American Dictionary)

Having practiced art for the past 30 years, I find there is a central motif, or a series of motifs that I express consistently over time. Recurring motifs are, in the art world, an expected through line for the artist to fully express that kernel of wisdom or seed teaching that has been given to them to explore.

So what is the motif that gets incorporated into a lot of my art. A motif that gets refined, morphed, expanded, integrated, more fully useful by the maturity of my life practice?

It is a spiral.

I remember when I first started carving and no matter what medium I used, I remember trying to create spirals. Through the years I have sought information about spirals in all kinds of places.  Spiral galaxies, DNA, planets movements through space, how water drains in spirals, tornados, water spouts, sea shells, are all everyday beginning places to look at the fabric of spirals in our lives.  The Fibonacci sequence produces a spiral in both directions. When “pleasing art” is diagrammed, there is always the Fibonacci sequence of a specific spiral expressed in the master art of many over the centuries. The link HERE will give you a mini-visual course on the topic in art.

This desire to make spirals arose within me quite independent of formal education. More over the spiral wasn’t the only true thing that I have a deep seeded desire to explore. There are other shapes, whole forms, which came through creation to grab my attention and carve into stone. Ovals, spheres, torus, pyramids, triangles….all those sacred geometric shapes were constantly appearing. And with each shape I was compelled to incorporate a spiral.  I am obviously not the only human who has turned her hammer and chisel into making these forms, humanity has been doing it for quite some time………..BUT WHY?

Is there something more to all of this than a basic shape or motion?

Is there perhaps a fundamental kernel of truth or structure that this earth was created from…that all life upon her was created from?  That perhaps the entire universe  was also created from?   Are these sacred geometric shapes inherent in all life forms here?

Concepts to ponder.

Chaos Ascending: all of the thoughts and ideas that no longer serve humanity spiraling away in this time between the ages; papier mache, 2007

Parting Thought

Go out in nature and find some Fibonacci spirals in the landscapes, cloudscapes, waterscapes, firescapes, of your world.  Entertain the idea that life goes in both directions, infinitely inward and infinitely outward.

How does this make your soul feel?