From birth to death, transitions are a constant part of life.
As each of us ventures out into the unknown, carving out our path in life, we transition from one stage to the next. Our path begins at the innocence of infancy, moving through the magical years of childhood, into our teenage years which can be a struggle as we impatiently wait to be a "grown-up".
As we mature, we come face-to-face with the joys and stresses of adulthood - becoming independent and planning a career, earning money, building a home and perhaps raising a family. It's not surprising that sometimes we find ourselves wishing we were young and carefree again.
Then we reach retirement and arrive at our “golden years”. But we don't really feel much older, do we? That is until we see a gray-haired, wrinkled face in the mirror and wonder "Who is that?" and "When did that happen?". While we do our best to accept old age gracefully and determined to make the best out of the years still ahead, we often find ourselves reminiscing about the past and longing for days gone by.
Life is filled with ups and downs, good times and bad, and many challenges we must overcome. Our experiences become lasting memories, staying with us and guiding us along our journey. We forge ahead and continue to grow while we carve our unique and individual paths. Even if that path is not what we were hoping for or expecting, or what others wanted or expected of us, each path is the narrative of a life lived.
Carving Our Own Path depicts one such path in vibrant shades of red, the colour of life, passion, danger, and the blood coursing through our veins. The path is made of different materials - some sharp, some smooth, some old, some new - to represent the challenges we face in our daily lives.
The path starts at the bottom and moves upward, bordered on both sides in white, the colour of peace, purity, and innocence.
The early years, those at the start of our path, are sprinkled with bright yellows, greens, blues, and pinks - the colours of childhood and happiness.
Traveling further up along the path as we mature into adulthood, the bright colours become less bright and slowly to turn into gray - the colour of security, reliability, intelligence.
As we age and approach the end of the path, the grays become darker, even verging on black - the colours of maturity, old age, and mortality.
And the gold smalti? Well, those are our golden years!
Carving Your Own Path
(2023) 20cm x 60cm / 8" x 24"
Materials: stained glass, smalti, gold smalti, glass beads & rods, glass tiles, copper & gold metal tube beads, corroded metal, brass compression rings, fresh-water pearls, mounted on three 20cm x 20cm birchwood painting panels joined together.