Fall Equinox
Materials used:
- wood base, Montana;
- plaster cast of my face; gold and rust highlight paint;
- hazel nut seedpods, Montana;
- small pinecones, Hawaii;
- desert brush, Nevada;
- green tree lichen, Montana;
- eucalyptus paper tree bark, Hawaii
- rusted metal, found on the Jefferson river shoreline
- two dried mushrooms, Palisade Falls, Montana
(wall mount 29"x26"x9")
Each year, in fall, the sun appears directly overhead at the equator and day and night are everywhere of equal length. This equinoctial mask speaks to me of balance and equality. Balance: "to bring to come to a state or position of balance," or “to bring into harmony.” These definitions relate to a sense of sharing and speak to me of humanity's different sectors and tribes coming together, a recognition of the equality and similarities we share, and a balancing of us as a Family of Humans.
I have, indeed, used fall colors. The coating on the mask face is a thin layer of eucalyptus paper tree bark I just discovered in Hawaii; I've highlighted the bark with rust and gold paint. The corresponding natural decorations include large seedpods from Montana, small pinecones from Hawaii, twigs of desert brush from Nevada, rusted metal found on the Jefferson River shoreline, tow dried mushrooms from Palisade Falls, Montana, and green tree lichen that grows in the Bridger Mountains outside of Bozeman.
The piece itself feels very balanced to me, and seems an appropriate creation to honor fall equinox, both in the literal sense of the timeline positioning of earth and sun, but also in a metaphorical sense that, with hope, looks forward to a more equal, just, and balanced shift in humanity’s recognition of one another.