PHOTO BY KATHLEEN BRENNAN
White Italian Marble, 15 x 16 x 16 inches
"Water World"
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A Continuing Discussion about the Artworks
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey**
"...nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever...the sea does not cease to
grind down rock." - James Baldwin
In the near beginning of time, after things settled down on Earth, our planet was completely covered in water. Then volcanic lava and ash exploded from the center of the earth, creating land. After billions of years, life appeared. Almost 75% of Earth was covered in water.
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The image of our Earth, as a ball of water hanging in space, is mesmerizing.
This vision was inspiration for the sculpture, WATER WORLD (EARTH).
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Most grade-school children can explain the 'water cycle' of precipitation, evaporation, and condensation, a process that maintains our finite source of water. But there are other cycles being addressed in the sculpture WATER WORLD which is the cycle of wind, waves and tides.
Wind whips across the surface of the water, creating waves. The water covering Earth is not static. It moves constantly. The waves are also influenced by the moon’s gravitational pull. The waves then waltz atop huge vertical undulations, stretching from the north pole to the south pole, moving around our watery sphere, creating tides. This dynamic action of wind, waves and tides keeps the planet warm in some areas and cooler in others. Nature's balanced actions have been going on for eons; however, things have changed dramatically in a short span of time since the industrialization of our planet, beginning in the 1900s.
ENTER CLIMATE CHANGE.
According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), “Impacts from climate change are happening now. These impacts extend well beyond an increase in temperature, affecting ecosystems and communities in the United States and around the world. Things that we depend upon and value – water, energy, transportation, wildlife, agriculture, ecosystems, and human health – are experiencing the effects of a changing climate.”
Climate change is having its effect on that 75% of water covering our world, and should be a cause for great concern. As WATER WORLD (EARTH) heats up, the huge amount of water held in melting ice caps will create devastating tsunamis. More tsunamis can be expected as the results of more intense weather events created by climate change, like earthquakes, tornados, and killer-torrential rains.
I wonder if we may be returning to that place from where we came, before the near beginning of time, when our EARTH was completely covered in water, our WATER WORLD.
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“Who has known the ocean? Neither you nor I, with our earth-bound senses, know the foam and surge of the tide that beats over the crab hiding under the seaweed of his tide-pool home; or the lilt of the long, slow swells of mid-ocean, where shoals of wandering fish prey and are preyed upon, and the dolphin breaks the waves to breathe the upper atmosphere. To sense this world of waters known to the creatures of the sea we must shed our human perceptions of length and breadth and time and place, and enter vicariously into a universe of all-pervading water." |
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**Artists, Friends of Art, and Curious Lookers,
READING ART, was initiated in November 2020 as a means to communicate with an audience, helping the viewers learn to 'read' the art as one 'reads' the weather. Once a month, I have sent an email through Constant Contact to each of you. In it was a photo of one of my sculptures along with a text.
After six months, and some amazing comments from viewers, I am encouraged to continue the project. I hope that we can continue READING ART together. If you missed an issue, just go to my website, www.TJMabrey.com, or by clicking my logo below where you'll find all the issues of READING ART.
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Thank you,
TJ Mabrey
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