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The Wise Silence
The Wise Silence
Oak
5 elements, up to 5' diameter
2016

The Wise Silence
oak - 5 elements, up to 5' diameter
Hapgood Wright Town Forest, Concord, MA

A series of large spheres, created with the traditional carpentry method of steam-bending wood, reside among the trees in a playful homage to Ralph Waldo Emerson. His writings address our longing for a sense of belonging in the universe, a place among the absolute, even while the experiences of daily life are disparate and mundane:

We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related.... (The Over-Soul, 1841)

A classical, abstract form, the sphere symbolizes purity, unity, and mathematical perfection; but here, they are rendered in humble materials and pieced together by human hands. They may evoke planetary orbs, or atomic models; or simply stand as a harmonious intersection of natural materials and human intention.

On view until September as part of the 2016 Art Ramble from Umbrella Arts Community Arts Center in Concord, Massachusetts.