spirit architecture – spain.2

evening shadow in the alhambra gardens – granada, spain

in spain, for thousands of years, architecture has been infused with the essence of human spirit

catedral primada santa maria de toledo - spain

human form, and the spirit of imagination have inspired the creation of powerful structures

virgin of montserrat – santa maria de montserrat monastery, spain

for centuries the benedictine monastery of montserrat developed around the legend of the black virgin – now a place of pilgrimage for millions

santa maria de montserrat – spain

elaborate courtyards, passageways, plazas, and intricately detailed structures inspire the continual flow of seekers

ribbed vaults of the monastery of montserrat

angel gracing the entrance to the shrine at montserrat - spain

scripts, hands, ribs, angels, saints, spirits – all deeply embedded into the form, the essence of buildings, in every detail

in the cloister of tortosa cathedral – spain

spirits that have passed become part of the walls

tortosa cathedral angel – spain

spirits carved out of the same materials of the structure – radiant and alive – polished skin and stone made fluid into wings and robes

gauidi’s sagrada familia facade – barcelona, spain

spirits emerging out of the structure – in the arches, window frames, and columns – growing out of the stone and earth

gaudi's park guell - barcelona, spain

human spirits are lifted from the ground, through the columns, to the arches and domes – upward into the light

central dome of the sagrada familia - spain

a striking reminder of how architecture can be a powerful embodiment of the spirit – how it can be the soul of the people who create it, or of those who are held within

tortosa cathedral - spain

or the spirit of those who have passed through

catedral primada santa maria de toledo – spain

or the spirit of those who surround it, or the community that is sheltered or inspired by it’s presence

granada cathedral - spain

or the eyes looking toward what cannot be seen

santa maria del mar - barcelona, spain

windows into the past and future

santa maria del mar – barcelona, spain

or the realization of collective dreams

shadow at the alhambra gate - granada, spain

or places to find your own shadow, in the dreams of a thousand years past.

lighthouse series #4 – cape florida lighthouse

historic photo – cape florida lighthouse, miami – key biscayne

in planning my first visit to miami, exploring the architectural heritage of south beach – morris lapidus’ fountainebleau, the streamline moderne art deco lined ocean drive, and a launching point to the everglades and onward to the southern tip of the country, key west.

pathway to the light – cape florida

on the lookout for old structures, and lighthouses – i found both here – the oldest structure in miami-dade county.

from the beach – cape florida lighthouse

the original lighthouse and cottage, built in 1825, were attacked and burned in 1836 by Seminole warriors protesting U.S. presence in the South Florida wilderness and resisting deportation from Florida to the West.

white light into blue – cape florida lighthouse

When the lighthouse was rebuilt in 1855-1856, it was extended from 65 feet to its present 95 feet in height, and wooden stairs were replaced with 119 spiraling iron steps to the top.

door marker – cape florida lighthouse

the first day i’d arrived too late.. the door, locked. i came back the next day, to climb

the light – cape florida lighthouse

119 steps

the climb – cape florida lighthouse

upward, the curving rhythm of steps, bolts, spiraling – hypnotic

spiraling structure – cape florida lighthouse

the spine – cape florida lighthouse

the steps – cape florida lighthouse

nearing the light – cape florida lighthouse

cape florida lighthouse

cape florida lighthouse

cape florida lighthouse

reaching the top platform, a door opens out to the sea

the place under the light – cape florida lighthouse

reconnecting to the brilliant sun, splintering light-shards over the water

the top, the sea – cape florida lighthouse

then one last climb, up to the housing of the beacon – original fresnel lens now replaced

at the top – cape florida lighthouse

final ascent – cape florida lighthouse

from the light to the sea – cape florida lighthouse

from here, the glass is etched with salted air, the ocean, shrouded in this veil

i wonder of the mysteries of all that has passed here before, seen and guided, held within the walls, shone out to the world

on this year-end, i wonder what will come out of the mist, in light

lighthouse series #2 – key west

key west lighthouse - florida

lighthouse door with banyan tree - key west lighthouse, florida

reflecting on the year past, and in to the light of the next..

wrought iron ring lock - key west lighthouse, florida

beginning the journey again, today — climbing the 88 steps of key west lighthouse, up to the light – to look out

stair tower - inside key west lighthouse - florida

lantern oil coiling upward - key west lighthouse, florida

on the southern edge of the country, a shimmering blue ocean in the most brilliant sun – a glimpse of light in the opening of the year to come

light portal - key west lighthouse - florida

seeing all beauty in light on this quest..

top of the lighthouse - key west, florida

the circular spiral, the stair is the passage of space and time, experience and energy, light and beauty

windows in the lighthouse cupola - key west, florida

an inspiring opening to 2011, a hope whispered in the wind – to see more light in all things

shaft window - key west lighthouse, florida

to see all light reflected, refracted, magnified, spectral – the pure energy of being alive

fresnel lens - key west lighthouse, florida

here

now

feathers, architecture and beauty

i’ve been captivated by the perfect beauty of form, function and symbolism of feathers.

i’ve been collecting them and studying them for years. universally powerful symbols in many cultures – the egyptians, druids and native americans, have all used feathers as symbols of higher wisdom, enlightened being. this story by the canadian native “whirlwind” is a powerful telling of holding the strength of the bone of the feather.

recently, i started a new journal with one – a premonition of the flight, and of the soaring that has come. to me, it was a reminder – be ready to fly with the wind that is coming.

when i look closer, i see the perfect balance of resilience, strength and grace in a feather.

flying, floating and holding – with the simplest beauty.

lifting in the winds, floating on wild seas, beading the rains, holding warmth.

what perfect architecture a feather would be.

the vanishing point

lighthouse stair – shutter island cgi

  how far back in your mind do moments exist before they disappear? 

high line park - northern expansion, new york

 how distant is what we see before it all vanishes from sight? 

georgetown brewhouse facade bracing - seattle

my son has been reflecting on the increasing distance as he looks back on memories of earlier times , places and experiences – and how they recede in scale, almost disappear. his thoughts sparked more reflection on the scale of things that we see, and how they recede into the distance, and then – - vanish altogether? 

new york subway - 5th avenue

the fundamental principle of architectural drawing is this — everything is seen in relationship to the vanishing point. in essence, it’s the center of everything, that point of nothing. all matter is stretched out on a grid from there – horizontal and vertical lines, all tying back, infinitely shrinking, disappearing completely from sight. vanishing.

hanalei pier - kauai, hawaii

 where is it that point? it’s where your eye is drawn, at the center — or, at the farthest periphery. 

banyan tree - central java, indonesia

like a black hole – everything and nothing in convergence. in looking deeper, and wondering, as we experience the world, what sense do we really have of the present? if none of the five senses work in the moment – as they are delayed by our sensory limitations – are we living in the past? is time merely a concept of relative perception, not a reality? if we could subsume our sensory input, would we have some other existent reality – in the present? and would we feel the matter that is manifest, in the moment? would we have clearer vision? would the vanishing point even exist? 

chihuly boathouse - lake union, seattle

maybe not. maybe we would experience a transformation of perspective, an opening to the energy of all that is. rather than a vanishing point, an infinite expansion to the universe.

yesterday's sunrise - jfk, new york

 that would make us the vanishing point.

sunrise - new york taxi

lighthouse series – #1

 

phare du four bretagne - jean guichard

 

over the past few months, i’ve been studying lighthouses. a gift, a book on the history of lighthouses ignited my renewed interest. the power of the symbolism is universal over the span of time and culture, and though many ancient lighthouses have been lost, there are hundreds – thousands - still standing. holding hundreds of years of history, and the stories of those who have created them, lived in and cared for them – magnetizing and capturing our dreams as they have for thousands of years. 

 

roker lighthouse, england - jonboy 247

 

 the metaphors are powerful – a fire-tower, marking of danger. a beam of light shining through dark, stormy seas, dense fog, crashing waves and ripping winds. standing tall, unwavering and courageous, struck from the edge of the earth. life saving, light-giving beacons to the windswept wave-battered vessels lost at sea. the images are stunning, and it is seemingly impossible that these structures can stand and shine in the midst of the wild forces of destruction that surround them.

and those keepers live there, too.

 

la jument lighthouse wave - brittany, france - jean guichard

 

 this image is captivating at first glance, and more so in reading the story of the rescue of the lighthouse keeper. with the speed of the oncoming wave and the keeper standing at the open door, it is amazing to hear of his survival. maybe the most powerful metaphor of all – the symbol of life in the face of death, of our smallness, and strength, against the awesome forces of nature.

 

newhaven lighthouse, sussex coast, england - reuters

 

the deeper i look, the more there is to learn — i’ve collected at least a dozen books, from construction details, lighthouse maps from europe, the mediterranean, and the pacific coast, historical references, light technology (the fresnel lenses alone are a lifetime’s study), and the stories of the keepers and the events – tragic and transformational.

 

whitford lighthouse - england, angus macdonald

 

this beautiful tapered cast iron lightouse constructed in 1865 is endangered, and nearing collapse. the range and beauty in the design of lighthouse structures all over the world is captivating – it would be more than a lifetime’s journey to go there.

 

 

west point lighthouse - alki point, seattle

 

in exploring them – their landscape, design, siting, and climbing up to the light – i’ve started the journey, beginning with the one nearest to home – the point robinson lighthouse on alki point in seattle (closed for the winter), then west point lighthouse at discovery park at the edge of the magnolia bluffs (shrink wrapped for restoration), and then the kilauea lighthouse on kauai (tower closed).

 

kilauea lighthouse - kauai island, hawaii

 

now on to more journeys and for going deeper, and climbing higher, to the towers and lanterns. now for storm-swept, or fogged in, or darkest night forays when the light – the heartbeat of the lighthouse – is shining bright. 

global marketplace – cultural crossroads

atlas mountains - berber market

working and exploring around the world, i am continually drawn deeper into see(k)ing cultural connections - the lines that connect people across vast deserts, unfathomable oceans, the highest mountain ranges, and through thousands of years.  

village market - borobudur, java

discovering the common ties that bind one culture to another - one human to the other. finding beauty in the great differences - the uniqueness of a place, a landscape, and a life. 

red fort passage shops - delhi, india

looking back from these vibrant epicenters, to the ancient trade routes for silk, amber, spice and incense – in bringing those rare luxuries from east to west  – and to the opening of the flow of culture that changed the world. 

rug auction - marrakech souk, morocco

from trade routes, came crossroads – and sparked by the intermingling of languages, knowledge, craft, arts, religion, and ideas – enriching epicenters of art and culture. from istanbul to damascus, mumbai to kashi, xi’an to jiuquan - and the seaport network from ningbo to suez to venice and rome. the beginning of the global network of trade, the universal language of being human. 

marrakech souk - olives

immersing in these epicenters of culture, the spark is evident – in every interchange, one to one, the knowledge, care, skill, art – the threads of a people being passed from one generation to another, across continents and civilizations. 

food stalls - jemaa el fna, marrakech

from the grand bazaar of istanbul, to the souks of marrakech, the village markets of java to the depato of tokyo, trade is a global language, and the convergence of buyers and sellers is the heartbeat of every city, community, people – and the line of their history, today, and the future. 

crossroads - seoul, korea

the global marketplace and the cultural crossroads are a grand weaving of the infinite individual strands of humanity. because of this global fabric, i’ve been on an incredible journey – over 12 years, 5 continents, countless countries – working and exploring places i could never have imagined. the world expands, the farther you travel, the deeper you explore, the more you see(k). 

thinking hands

hand study 1

today, exploring one hand with another -  and the line of energy stretching from one hand, to my eyes, to my mind, to my drawing hand.

hand study 2

thinking about that connection – mind and body – and how the way we live and work is a continual disconnection of being. being human, spirit in body, eyes in hands.

hand study 3

“the hand is the window on to the mind” – immanuel kant.

the hand does not just execute the mind’s will – the hand teaches.

hand study 4

the eye, the hand, and the mind – a mystical triad, magical connection – a resonant interplay of power, in the creative manifestation of life.

hand study 5

 hands tell the stories of our lives.

hand study 6

“a hand lying on the shoulder or thigh of another body no longer belongs completely to the one it came from” – rainer maria rilke.

 

hand study 7

beginner’s mind

“in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few” – shunryo suzuki

seeing

being open to learning from others, seeking teachers, guides, masters – all have had a profound effect on my life. there are many things i’d like to learn. with so much focus and time wrapped into the work, it is easy to believe in being the expert, and to feel the pressure to be that – discarding the idea that we always, eternally, have something to learn from every person and every experience. remembering to say “i don’t know”. teachers can be powerful bridges to new territory, new discovery, new worlds, continual learning.

aurora bridge

In the tradition of zen buddhism, wisdom is passed through a lineage of one-to-one direct transference of thought from teacher to student. The focus is on direct experience rather than creeds and scriptures.

teacher

teachers have always been guides in my life – beginning with my father, a teacher of music.  there were piano teachers, school teachers, athletic coaches – all guides, in finding what was in me that was also in others before me. 

learning from seurat

i remember watching those episodes of kung fu – just to hear the kernel of wisdom, the one that only the teacher could crystallize in a few profound words – the distillation of great practice and efforts, trials and lessons. 

“master, these things which we are taught. i cannot do them.”

“you find these exercises too difficult?”

“no master.  too cruel.”

“and to be killed. what is that?”

“i must learn these exercises, to defend myself.”

“learn first how to live. learn second how not to kill. learn third how to live with death. learn fourth how to die.”

life drawing

or the story of the peaceful warrior – a story of a struggling gymnast guided by a teacher, who initially appears to him on the roof of a gas station.

seattle gasworks

“you haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. the peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability…to the world, to life, and to the presence you felt. all along i’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory – it’s about love. love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”

learning from titian

i’ve spent thousands of hours of practice, study, and connecting with teachers and coaches, and in watching the practice of masters i’ve often wished for further study and practice in drawing. 

anita's garden

so i’ve gone back, to creating a program of study, and enlisted teachers and masters, to guide me. and i’m watching and studying those masters around me, who have been more than willing to help. there are many, though i have found anita lehman, in her patient encouragement and thoughtful instruction to be an essential guide.  in study of the recent exhibit of andrew wyeth paintings at the seattle art museum, she shared with me an observation her painting instructor made of wyeth’s work – “every stroke matters.” this immediately transported me to the squash court and the lessons of shabana khan, champion player and masterful teacher, whose continued revelations on the court elevate athletic potentials (for now i’m keeping my day job).

tibetan temple

a great source of powerful inspiration has been my deep connection and observation of  tim girvin, as creative force, role model, mentor, spiritual traveller, and partner. He has provided endless study references, masterful expression of creative energy in calligraphic illustration, intellectual exploration, and tireless pursuit of wonder.

girvin home

slowly, i’m re-learning, from the beginning – and with this added guidance, i’m learning more, and finding a deeper connection to this fascination, this love – and breathing life into it, and into me.

energy and matter

offering to the fire

this conversation began over my son’s first greek dinner. we’d been talking about a trip – the idea of circling the meditteranean, from greece, turkey, syria, lebanon, israel, egypt, libya, tunisia, algeria, and finally back to morocco..  it’s a journey i’ve imagined for a long time, and been looking for the time that this journey would take – months, at least, if not more. 

ben youssef medersa marrakech morocco

having touched the beginning and end of this route, in turkey and morocco, i’ve been dreaming of the rest.  my experiences there were so rich – the layered architecture of incredible beauty and detail, the culture of craft, food, music, and vibrant energy of the people, the landscape that feels so ancient – and so different from my native green forests.

harem window istanbul

back to greek food – and the connection to turkish food, and the cultural mixing of the two.  our discussion then wandered to a a brief outline of the history of greece and turkey, and the mixing of the cultures, then in more recent political terms to the secular leadership of modern turkey - and the impact of secular leadership of nations. having just watched religulous by bill maher. my son recalled a scene where one of maher’s subjects suggests that rain was proof of his faith.

lantau island buddha in deluge

this was the turning point in our conversation – where we ended up with only energy and matter. here is the thread of logic that took us there.  our tendancy to attach meaning to when it rains relates to how our brains work as survival mechanisms – we are not wired for perception of reality. most of what we percieve is filtered and processed to aid us in our quest for survival, reality is not critical for survival.

our perceptive abilities to even sense most of what we know exists is minimal, and our ability to filter and fill in realities to make sense of what we don’t comprehend is vast. from john medina’s  developmental molecular biology brain research to the physicist patricia burchat’s explorations of the 96% of the universe that we cannot see or measure, we have been presented with enough science to consider this possibility – that everything we percieve is processed through the limitations of both our limited sensory capabilities and further distorted by our brain’s survival construct.

man mo temple offering hong kong

then, is all meaning simply a survival construct? is why we are here also a survival construct? is good and evil a survival construct? is time and space a survival construct? if all there is, is energy and matter – in all of it’s beautiful and random manifestations – us, our planet, our universe – and our gift as human beings  is to sense and feel and revel in the wonderful chaos and coincidence of it all – how fortunate we are.

morning meditation - home

as my son says – the smallest amount of energy that we exert ripples throughout the entire universe, changing everything with one small act.