Monday walk…into the heart of the wood

Must preface this by apologizing for getting behind yesterday and not visiting many posts. Sometimes life happens.Nothing bad, just busy.

We have three more Popper sculptures to view before we leave Morton Arboretum, two today, the last tomorrow. Although this first might seem like “Split Personality” or “Two-Faced”, it is in reality nothing like either of those. According to the artist:

Recalling the inner rings at the centre of a tree trunk, Heartwood offers a lyrical meditation on the interconnectedness of humans and nature. While the work’s image might first appear fractured – with the bust of a woman cleaved in two – on closer looking, a resonant parallel becomes apparent. The heartwood of a tree marks its earliest growth and becomes, with the accumulation of annual ring, the plant’s spine; the wood dense and resistant to decay. 

The outer details are lovely too.

There were still a few flowers in bloom to go along with the autumn leaves.

You may or may not see the same meaning in “Basilica” as the artist did but even if not, it’s fine. Art is in the eye and heart and in the interpretation of the beholder.

Its title borrowed from the Greek word given first to places of gathering and later to those of worship, the work is an invocation to community and communion. While it may be without walls, with no ceiling but the sky, the artist lends Basilica’s two outstretched arms and the space they enclose the sacred resonance of a temple. 

On a very different artistic note, my husband and I have been watching lots and lots of rugby and one of the odd, funny things is that during or at the end of (or sometimes both) English matches and at least some of the 7’s tournaments, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is played. It’s not just at rugby matches but the “good times never seemed so good” and the opportunity to belt out “So good, so good, so good” and “ba, ba, ba” has made it a favorite of a number of sporting events. That’s what I thought of when seeing this sculpture as it’s certainly reaching out. 🙂 My husband and I sing right along when whenever we hear it but I did not sing out loud this day. 🙂

Jo’s Monday Walk 12.12.22