One Thousand Arms of Compassion
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As I began recovering from a major hiking accident in 2010, I was called to do art that would encompass my present circumstance and continue to be inspired by Nature’s prompts. One Thousand Arms of Compassion is an installation bringing to light the visible relationship between letter forms and Nature. It consists of a thousand forked branches looking like Ys, installed in concentric circles in the tradition of the mandala. By placing our center in the center of the greater circle of Nature, we open ourselves to receiving Nature's creative force through her emissaries, the trees. We will then expand our understanding of life to include more of the infinite circle that is the Universe. If we stand under, we understand.
A further dimension of this work was inspired by the wondrous image of Avalokiteshvara, the Tibetan Bodhisattva of Compassion, whose head is often haloed by a thousand arms, symbolizing compassion. It was a natural progression for me to go from limbs to arms to finding that all we know, or can know, comes from Nature.
