During the summer I took an online course with the artist Donna Martin called Ethereal Encaustics which taught me some new (to me) techniques and I enjoyed trying them out and learning from her. Below is an example of the sort of work I'd been making and I will be showing some of these pieces in my exhibition at HIVE that goes up this week. This piece is 10" x 10" and at the start of this term I took it into college to give an example of the direction I wanted to go with my specialist studio practice to my tutor in our one to one tutorial session.
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Castlerigg at the Winter Solstice', by Kathy Rowan
He was happy with the techniques and composition and said that the final result worked so well partly because it was small. He talked about relics, mementoes and small precious items from the past and this appealed to me. He suggested that I keep the future artworks small and monochrome to create the impression of a historic, faded, painting. I am keen to create atmospheric work, featuring magical places and his ideas and suggestions complemented my own so I will be exploring these ideas.
This stone circle (Castlerigg) is special to me. I have visited most of the stone circles in the UK but this is a favourite. I have performed handfastings, baby naming and even (sadly) a funeral at this circle, it holds many memories for me. It is a special place for many pagans, witches and Goddess feminists too because they consider stone circles to be sacred places which connect us to our past and to mother earth's healing energies.
Kathy at Castlerigg 2018
The fact that stone circles were built more than 3000 years ago always makes me wonder about the people who built them. I wonder if they held their celebrations at these special places too? It raises so many questions about why and how they were built. They are mysterious and, for me, magical places.
In my research, I began to make links between these ancient stone circles and the research I have been doing for my dissertation which was about the Palaeolithic sculpture known as the Venus of Hohle Fels. This figurine is the oldest example of many female figurines which have been discovered throughout Europe. The Goddess Feminists believe them to be representations of a Goddess who was worshipped by the Palaeolithic people at a time when society was peaceful and life was woman-centered.
Side and front views of the Venus of Hohle Fels. Photos by H. Jensen; copyright, University of Tu¨bingen.
This is the sculpture, it is just over 2 inches tall, made from Mammoth Ivory and was discovered in an excavation in a cave in Germany in 2009. It is the earliest example of Upper Paleolithic art and figurative prehistoric art in general. It was made around 35,000 years ago. The artist (or artists) must have used tools of some sort to carve it. It has been skillfully made and must have taken time to make and this suggests that it was important for some reason (perhaps emotionally or spiritually).
We don't know if it originally had a head, there is just a loop where a head could have been attached. It might have been that the head was made of perishable material. It might not have had any head at all. As the figurine is small and lightweight with a loop on the top it could easily have been attached to a cord and worn as a pendant. The absence of feet suggest it was not meant to stand alone, in fact the back is fairly flat which could suggest it was intended to be worn as a pendant close to the body or that the artist/s intended that the figurine would be displayed lying on its back.
Pagan handfasting (wedding), 2016 at Castlerigg.
Like the stone circles, we have no way of knowing why the figurine was made, but we do know that many 'Venus' figurines (as they are commonly called) have been found in Europe. Many stone circles have also been found. These figurines and the stone circles give us a glimpse into a forgotten past, a time before writing and recorded history. We have only fragments of the past, glimpses into a time so ancient it is (for me) unimaginable.
'Female Icons, Ancestral Mothers'
https://www.suppressedhistories.net/catalog/maaicons.html
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