Photo by David R. Gluns
Donated to Kootenay Gallery in 2022
Lux Perpetua is An LED lit, steel iconographic reimagining of Castlegar's coat of arms. Originally in Latin Haec Lumina Numquam Errantiae [These Lights Never Wander], now Lux Perpetua [Everlasting Light], two osprey support the joining Columbia and Kootenay river wearing sapphire and gold heart medallions.
Lux Perpetua
The light never dies. Darkness awaits our eyes' adjustment.
The night sky dropped onto Earth, scattered carefully arranged across the walls of artificial canyons.
Rays cast and cut into shadows and we see you.
We watch the waters fall.
We watch the birds take flight.
And we are afraid now, like mice, centered on a concrete field.
Free from cover, we shine forever.
Photo by Gregory Varano
Sold
2nd Place, Oak Bay ArtsAlive People's Choice 2021
Sub Quercu Natura Humana is a four sided hinged stainless steel garden ornament that can be formed into a column (as shown in the photo) or unfolded into a wall/divider. The bamboo curtains have been removed since the photo was taken and will not be included if this sculpture is purchased.
2021 theme: TOGETHERNESS
The Blacktail Stag and the Painted Turtles; Earth; Nurture; Strength.
The Cottontail Rabbit and the Butterflies; Fire; Humility; Transformation.
The Great Blue Heron and the Salmon; Water; Independence; Rebirth.
The Crow and the Orca; Air; Introspection; Community.
Sub Quercu Natura Humana
Human Nature Under Oak.
People like to separate themselves from nature. It's funny and often disturbing watching them fumble around trying to control it. They think their carefully constructed language will magically lift them from the chaos and into some semblance of paradise. As though saying "that's not natural" will save them from inevitable decay and death. Even in a dead language, nature comes first.
Sub Quercu Natura Humana
Human Nature Under Oak.
We are all in this together, and although they try, it seems evermore unlikely that Silicon Valley’s hoard of geniuses and self-driving drones will ever escape this perfect planet. Every year nature learns new creative ways to deconstruct our so-called waste into the building blocks of new and beautiful natural creations.The pessimism is unyielding and yet, nature knows better. And if we were separate from nature, then nature, unconscious, is infinitely wiser. And of course we find out about it, because we are told. They call this discovery. All of the math in the world is simply natural.
Sub Quercu Natura Humana
Human Nature Under Oak.
On the city's coat of arms, ‘Sub Quercu Felicitas / Happiness Under Oak.’ Oh, how could I contribute to this glorious condition. There is the leaf, the acorn, the animals, with beaks and paws and fins and hands.The oak grows gnarly and immense and yet we never cower beneath. A break from the wind, and shade from the sun. We are happy, aren't we? Nature; human. For those who understand words, we are human; naturally. And in cold hard stainless steel, hopefully, forevermore.