SEAHORSES - MALE - PHASE 10

SEAHORSES - MALE - PHASE 10

December 2, 2006

In this phase, I have used a variety of precise carbide burrs, with a 1/8" shank or less, to rough out the designs on the raised oval areas.

While carving the design into the antler over the last few days, I have wondered about the meaning of the squiggles beneath my tools. All of the squiggles emerged from the texture evident in the photograph of the seahorse. Some of the squiggles have taken on the appearance of familiar things. But what do they mean? I then wondered if there was any meaning at all in what I do?

It occured to me that, in isolation, the sqiggles and shapes meant nothing. It is only when they are taken together that something happens within the observer - just as the individual notes of a symphony mean nothing and yet something happens, within the listener, when they are played together. The meaning is not so much rational, or something that can be reduced to words and phrases, but , what? Emotional? Spiritual? I'm not really sure these overused categories are able to describe the kind of effect I am talking about. The experience of the overall design can generate an altered state within the observer, one of warmth, pleasure, or excitement. It takes one to a different place within oneself, from which one returns a little richer ...

Till next time,

Shane

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