The Abduction of Sophia/ Subduing of Ahriman,

Cone 6 Gas Fired Stoneware, 15” X 24” 2014

The Abduction of Sophia

Subduing of Ahriman

Crucifixion

Mexican Mystery

In Process

Sophia

This is a piece I did a few years ago. The Title image, The Abduction of Sophia, was a recycling of some drawings I did in the 1990’s in preparation for a painting that I never started. The idea arose from reading translations of original Gnostic texts detailing some of the Gnostic myths. I opted to do a semi literal rendering since it is told in this way. When I started to add the images to the ceramic vessel, I decided to contrast the abduction with the subduing of Ahriman by Michael. Then I thought to contrast the images of the crucifixion of Christ and the crucifixion of the black magician, in the Americas at the time of Christ, on each side. This comes from Steiner’s lectures on the Mexican mysteries and the Knights Templar. The contrasting scriptures are as follows: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…”(Psalm 23:4”, and “The wicked are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” (Psalm 1:4). Oddly enough, I remember the second verse not from Sunday school but from an Emlyn Williams play entitled Night must Fall.
As you can see, the colors did not quite come out as bright as in the work in progress. There was too much reduction in the gas kiln and it bled the oxides in the slips and stains. Sometimes I will fire again in oxidation with more color, but I decided to leave it as it is. It is a dark piece. For better or worse, I will let it speak for itself without explaining too much.

After having been involved with Anthroposophy for years, and having some familiarity with biodynamic farming, I am only just now listening to recordings of the agricultural lectures. I have often thought that an anthroposophical practice could be developed and applied to ceramic art work, similar to the way it is applied to painting and the other arts, but also uniquely dealing with the mineral kingdom, and the nature of clay and clay materials. These lectures are a good starting point. Steiner’s discussions on lime, silica, and clay are extremely applicable. The finishing processes in ceramics deviate somewhat from the processes in agriculture, incorporating the element of fire and it’s trans-formative properties. So the question might arise: “How does a fired form still carry anything living into the world past the firing process, which essentially kills any potential for organic growth”. A simple explanation might be interpolated from the question: “What living qualities still exist in archaic ceramic forms from 1,000-10,000 years ago”. Objects from the past still seem to retain spiritual qualities inherent at the time of the making as well as from subsequent use and history. The object as vessel, whether purely sculptural or also functional, acts as both receiver and disseminator of cosmic and earthly spirit. The maker, like the clay in soil, acts as facilitator and, to the extent they have developed their own spiritual existence, help determine the effect and spiritual nature of the object/vessel and sculptural form and as a mediator between matter and spirit. Artistic endeavor is, in this respect, a communicator across time. Clay rises up in the forming processes, lime and other fluxes flow downward into the spaces in the firing, both in glaze and in clay. “Killing” the clay with fire leaves a spiritual space for giving and receiving spirit, similar to processes in the soil and in digestive processes in the human and animal kingdoms.