Bubbles of Perception and Cosmic Strands

The three Cosmic Strands watercolors have been with me for a very long time and I knew the right home for them would be found someday.  They have been with me through countless moves and changes in my life.  I always felt that they would be best in a corporate setting.  A dear friend and colleague, Prachee Devadas, has bought them for her new office.

I created the work in 1986-87 and they were shown at the following art exhibits:

• 1992 – National Hispanic Week, National Endowment for the Humanities, The Pavilion,
  Washington, DC
• 1994 – Hispanic Mosaic for the AT&T Hispanic Employee Association in Oakton, VA.
• 1996 – Women in Motion: Passages. at the Torruella-Quander Gallery, Washington, DC

The work is special to me because at that stage in my life I was thinking about human connection and our place in the universe.

The watercolors are deeply influenced by the work of author, Carlos Castaneda, who introduced me to the concept of bubbles of perception and how humans can get trapped by them.  An excerpt from his book, Tales of Power, explains this concept:

“We are inside a bubble. It is a bubble into which we are placed at the moment of our birth. At first the bubble is open, but then it begins to close until it has sealed us in. The bubble is our perception. We live inside that bubble all our lives. And what we witness on its round walls is our reflection. The thing reflected is our view of the world. That view is first a description which is given to us from the moment of our birth until all our attention is caught by it and the description becomes a view.”

The strands can represent individuals, communities, etc. All believing they are separate when there is deep connectivity. The “bubbles” are our perceptions that also seem separate from everything else particularly the flow of the universe, but they are totally inter-twined.

Another influence is Native American spirituality in the form of dance and ritual. If you see the fringe on a dancer’s regalia, they are also strands. The dance moves and sways the fringe, just as the currents of life move and sway the strands.

Thanks again Prachee!  They will be happy in their new home!