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Many good things came out of exhibiting work at the Flora and Fauna show at Techne Art Center for the past five weeks.  I got to “hang” with some friends whose work I respect, met a new gallerist and a few new artists.  Two visitors to Techne later purchased works.

One of the most significant things, however, happened several weeks into the show.  I asked our neighbor, poet Mary Lenox, if she’d consider writing a poem about one of my pieces on exhibit: In Their Hand (left).  Mary welcomed the opportunity to first discuss the painting and was keen on learning its backstory.  What she then provided and read on the last day of the exhibition was an example of an ancient literary form, ekphrastic poetry, the goal of which is to engage with another work of art, adding insight and interpretation.

In Their Hand is my rendering of a rock that was discovered in the hand of a child whose body had been placed in a burial chamber within the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa.  The child was from a community of Homo naledi, ancient humans that were not Homo sapiens.  It is estimated that the site was an astonishing 240,000-350,000 years old.  It was a remarkable discovery for many reasons, not the least of which is the hypothesis that the stone tool was intended to serve the child in the afterlife.

I am happy to present Mary’s poem:

 

 

The Beat Goes On

 

There

Deep inside a South African cave 

the skeletal remains of a child inside a rock holding a stone in its hand

buried more than 240,000-350,000 years ago

Stories of this rare discovery ignite an artist's imagination

He wondered

How long had it been in the cave?

Why did it hold a rock in its hand? 

Who placed it there? 

Was it a message of hope for an afterlife? 

The artist created his masterpiece reflecting on these ideas from the darkness of the unknown

to the light of inspiration

a prehistoric treasure becomes the conduit for a new connection to life

illustrating the transformative power of art

Mysteries remain

but hope endures as unspoken words reveal

a new vision born of divine originality

Illuminating the continuum of life 

from ancient times to now

While True Ryndes was creating his painting using the color green, 

I wonder if he was thinking of the fragility of life,

eternity, immortality, resurrection, growth, restoration, and new beginnings.

Did he think of blue as symbolizing sea and sky, tranquility, freedom, loyalty, and sadness, inner peace and the divine across countless spiritual beliefs and religions?

Oh what a gift to see endless possibilities.

The beat goes on

connecting, transforming, reforming

ashes to ashes, 

spirit of bones

touches True’s spirit

A glimpse of life over eons of time

A revelation in a symphony of colors, form, lines, space, contrast, balance, rhythm, and scale, coupled with discoveries in the depths of caves in Africa, the birthplace of human evolution

Together in one painting

How amazing is that!

 

 

©2024 Mary F. Lenox

   San Diego, CA

   October 12, 2024