IMPERMANENCE—ART AND PALEONTOLOGY: THE NATURE OF REALITY

Owl Watercolors by Hallelujah Truth inspired by Blue Fire's 3-dimensional clay owls.

Hallelujah for the SPIRITUAL and the PHYSICAL! Hallelujah for the INFINITE and TEMPORAL! Hallelujah for my FELLOW ART PILGRIMS who CREATE deeply meaningful ART without the FEAR of its fragile brevity on this BEAUTIFUL EARTH. Hallelujah for the SCIENTISTS for their understanding of DEEP TIME.

One such artist is BLUE FIRE MACMAHON, a ceramic artist I have loved and admired for many years.  Many of her hand-built clay GODDESSES peak out from the corners of my home, including the ONE who presides over birds in the garden.  As the years have passed, I have lost two of her works to unexpected household happenings—a nail came out of the wall, and a dancing GODDESS slid to the floor in pieces. On another occasion my wonderful well-meaning Chiboogamoo was mopping and the mop handle lifted a GODDESS off the wall. SHE exploded into unglue-able fragments when she hit the ground! Another FEMININE figure sits on my nightstand with a chipped blue shoulder revealing the white clay beneath.

“Even fossils erode,” my brilliant companion Chiboogamoo says, trying to comfort me when a piece of ART passes away. And I am comforted by my household PALEONTOLOGIST! Hallelujah for husband PALEONTOLOGISTS!  Chiboogamoo is the first to remind me of geological time when we are running late for some engagement.   “What do a few minutes here or there matter in the course of GEOLOGIC TIME?” he utters soothingly. As a PALEONTOLOGIST, he reminds me of the scramble to study or collect fossils that erode into our human sight and then degrade in a few days, weeks, months or years—after being preserved for MILLIONS of YEARS!

IMPERMANENCE is a relative term, isn’t it? Whether we are talking about EPHEMERAL ART, such as BLUE FIRE’S clay works that embody elements of the human SOUL or evidence of ancient EXISTENCE preserved in the fossil record, EVERYTHING is CHANGING ALL the TIME. Our LIVES are in the CONSTANT STATE of FLUX. Impermanence is the nature of reality!

Recently, I purchased two more of BLUE FIRE’S sculptures: OWLS! She no longer lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where I met her, but lives in the mountains of North Carolina, where she is deepening in her SPIRITUAL JOURNEY (of which OWLS have emerged as a real and symbolic animal for her). Therefore, I purchased my OWL totems from Etsy, an online world marketplace for ARTISTS. In the “Note from Buyer,” I wrote to her that “I love the mortality inherent in these pieces as much as their vitality. IMPERMANENCE!”

BLUE FIRE'S OWL PERSON SINGING HER TRUTH TO THE NIGHT! She writes: "Her truth is the song of her heart pouring through her from the Dream of LOVE all around and within. We are all one. ALL is Love." See Blue Fire's fantastic work on her blog.

In response to my note, I received a gift from BLUE FIRE to “observe” IMPERMANENCE! Along with my purchases, I was given a small bundle wrapped in red cloth and tied with blue yarn! Inside was a hand-sized unfired earthen OWL totem! BLUE FIRE’S note read as follows:

Dear RuthTruth, this whole thing about impermanence fascinates me! Here is a little unfired owl…impermanent…if it is placed in the rain it will melt back into the Mother. BF

HALLELUJAH! HOW EXCITING! I immediately placed the small earthen owl outside with seashells from the Georgia coast, other artifacts of passing time (see my blog on the life-cycle of moonsnails)! Below are the first photos in my observation of IMPERMANENCE as given to me by ARTIST BLUE FIRE.

Ready for Rain!

After Rain One!

After Rain Two and Sun!

After Rain Three, Fourth of July

As I watch my little owl with its heart in the center dissolve, I think about my PRECIOUS PRECIOUS LIFE, and of YOURS TOO. What we will we do on our JOURNEY here PILGRIMS? Before our TIME is up, and our PHYSICAL bodies erode, what will we make of our SPIRIT?

SOUL BLOG with me at my blog, COFFEE WITH HALLELUJAH. Share with me your ideas about the reality of life! Do you experience the FLUX of the UNIVERSE? Write ME about YOU!

OWL on the WHEEL of LIFE, Hallelujah Truth!