World Labyrinth Day

So, lately I have become interested in Labyrinths.I suppose, to the extent that I ever knew anything about them (not much), I always thought that they were interesting. When I was a kid, I LOVED maze books. I even made some of my own on paper, just simple mazes to draw a line through. At one point, in high school, just before I started considering architecture as a possible major, I liked to sketch and draft various things. I sketched out a possible LaserTag maze once. Also, once when I was about 10 I saw the movie Labyrinth (David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly and Jim Henson), and loved it - especially the Escher castle, but also the whole labyrinth itself.

I now have a relatively large, and empty, yard that I am trying to figure out what to do with. I keep getting gardening books from the library, hoping for inspiration. Right now I'm in the middle of a book on Labyrinths. First of all, it's interesting that labyrinths and mazes are actually different: labyrinths consist of a single path, and mazes have choices. So, I think I actually like mazes better (and the "labyrinth" in Labyrinth was actually a maze). Still, the book is more about labyrinths, and it is interesting to know the history. The first historical reference to a labyrinth seems to be with King Minos of Crete, who supposedly had a Labyrinth with a Minotaur at the center (the story reminds me of Hunger Games). Later, the the labyrinth was adopted by many medieval Christians, who took it as symbol of one's spiritual walk: you many not know where you are right now, but your path invariably leads to the center (these early labyrinths were usually made with the paths forming a cross in the center). Supposedly, walking one of several official labyrinths setup in churches throughout Europe could substitute for making a required pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In the 1600s-1800s, the labyrinth somehow morphed into hedge mazes, which were popular in public spaces and on wealthy estates. Recently, there seems to be a renewed interest in Labyrinths, both by Christians of more traditional denominations, as well as people seeking general spiritual and meditative experiences. There also seems to be more interest in mazes, as a form of novelty and entertainment - but I haven't gotten around to any books on mazes yet (still need to finish the one I have on labyrinths).

The is now a World-Wide Labyrinth Locator, and a World Labyrinth Day (today!). So, I found some labyrinths in our state and Adrian and I went to check them out. There wasn't really much variation in the design, but it was interesting to see some actual labyrinths. The denominations most likely to have labyrinths seem to be: United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and a few non-denominational sounding churches, often with "Unity" in their names. Also, several hospitals and health centers seem to have labyrinths. Which makes sense, both walking and mediation have known health benefits.

So here are the some labyrinths I walked, and I decided to put them together in a post today:

My College Art

Some of my favorite works from two classes I took in my freshman year:

1.  Cat & Mouse - The assignment was to copy an existing work. I copied this from an art book at the library. I don't know the name of the original artist. I love cats! But with this, I wanted to show something a bit dark, and not so stereotypically cute.
2. Shoes I & II - The assignment was to draw somthing from our closet. I think this is when I began to realize how some women can become obsessed with shoes.
3. I never could come up with a good title for this composition. It was drawn from a table of objects setup in the middle of the classroom. The instructor helped me ALOT with the face.
4. Tigers - The assignment was to recreate an exiting image using a mosaic of one inch square, each done in a different pattern.
5. Evolution - I don't quite know what to think about evolution, but even if I do not believe in it, it is still a beautiful theory in some ways. The assignment was to transition from 2D to 3D.
6. Astronomy: The Mother of Science - This is a concept design board from a final project that I never finished (Yes, I got B's in art). The assignment was to incorporate elements from the works of old Great Masters, and then put the whole thing down on paper using cross-hatch.

Thinking of Spring