'muirogue'

Julie Swan 2013

terracotta/iron oxide / gold and copper patina

HELD FOR EXHIBITION

The ‘muiroghe series’ explores the issues of separation. In our technologically advanced world we experience cleverness of mind each day. We are bombarded with words and information. Knowledge is often not followed up with soul responsibility and heart-felt practice. Words and statistics are often just hollow noise. Is our ‘sophistication’ separating us from the whole? 

I have used the mermaid as a metaphor that represents a state where mind and heart might achieve some balance. The upper torso represents the qualities of analytical research, organisation and selective control. Adam has bitten from the tree of knowledge. The tail represents the qualities of nature. It is free-flowing and organic. It is bountiful, and malleable and reactive. The upper torso is the mind and the tail is the heart.

'An object’s beauty remains hidden from the analytical research of the mind. Beauty is revealed in the feeling that binds heart and object.'  Kaii Higashiyama

'falling'

Julie Swan 2009

terracotta/iron oxide

SOLD

In this work the face is bowed down and the ego is relinquished. The hands are grasped together as if in prayer. The grasses and the tail entwine and support the upper torso. It is all feeling. The lines should not be analysed, but instead I would hope that the viewer responds to this work with feeling. It is my expression of perfect balance and empathy.

'loss'

Julie Swan 2013

ceramic/iron oxide/gold patina

h.34cm x w.39cm SOLD

In ‘loss’ I wanted to express that words are often inadequate as descriptors and that by giving a sensation or an experience a label or a set of definitions, we risk losing the power of the something that should be left unsaid. In this work the figure has closed down on itself and remains still and in a state of separation

'words'

Julie Swan 2009

ceramic/iron oxide/ gold and copper patina

 SOLD