Chorale

Apotheosis of the Corn Goddess

Cornfield - Chorale floorplan 76' diameter

Chorale Seven paintings in oil - 50' diameter semi-circle Boat 36"H x 36"W x 60"L. polychrome wooden sculpture

Chorale is a seven panel mural spanning a 50 feet occupying half of the Cornfield ground. The full floor design forms a 76 foot diameter circle, an image created in the spirit of the Native American Corn Goddess. The seven paintings sit atop a wooden architecture of bases and video displays, all meant to sing as one while corralling the viewer's attention in the center of the exhibit.

Thematically, Chorale expresses the phases of nature and cultivation, both in growing and harvesting food and the creation of art and ideas. Moving outward in opposite directions from the center painting Apotheosis, there are three paired paintings, beginning with the theme of creative potential (Tractor / Wheelbarrow ), transforming into the theme of sustenance (Nitya / Garden Electric ), and ending in dissolution (White Cloud / Yellow Cloud ).

Another way to look at Chorale is in terms of self-effort and grace, two sides of the same coin, the essential elements of the spiritual journey. To the right of the centerpiece are images of manual labor and self effort, symbolized by the wheelbarrow, the potential living within it's tools, and the resultant joy of work well done. To the left are images of spontaneity and grace, symbolized by the surprising path of the tractor and the rider's benediction. At the outer ends are images of chaos and harmony, complimentary and interchangeable opposites. Apotheosis is both the source and culmination of these two directions.

In the center of Chorale floats the Boat.

Chorale

The wooden sculpture Boat was created as a polychrome free-floating ship anchored inside the Chorale space. With ‘grain silos’ as masts, which are also suggestive of linghams and dock moorings, the deck has been painted with the image of a cornfield. Boat functions as a multi-dimensional symbol, a layer cake of both masculine and feminine energies - a repository, a silo, a womb, an ark - a ship with it's dock planted firmly within, resting between symbols of expansion and contraction. The destiny of Boat is to ‘float’ next to the Dais in the middle of Cornfield. Just as its anchor also floats, to circle the sculpture is to 'walk on water,' to dance on the sea of Maize.