Creations By Pat Mack

I have been working on a sculpture that started with thoughts on rebirth. I feel everything within the universe follows the energy cycle of birth, growth, maturity, death, and rebirth. Plants, animals, the earth, the planets, and more importantly, people all share this cycle of energy.

For me, understanding this concept brings peace within, because for us the energy we experience is the energy from love. The rebirth of the soul unites the past and present under the aspect of eternity. Not only are we reborn, we are reconnected to past loved ones.

One of the first concepts started along the thinking of "We are not alone". God is with us … holding us throughout our lives through birth to death, and death to rebirth. I thought about showing the hands of God gentling cradling someone who has passed on in the left hand, and in the right hand raising a person with full vitality and carrying new life inside of her, perpetuating the cycle of life and rebirth.

A reclining form would be part of the hand as if being enveloped by the skin around her … like a blanket. Another standing figure, exuding life, energy, tenderness and love, would emerge out of the hand, symbolic of coming out of a possibly difficult experience, condition or situation. It would rise above the trials of life, representing God’s intention that we have a purpose, and that no person is here by accident.

Another concept captured leaving behind our old thoughts, behaviors, and old ways of reacting. Born out of our past is a younger, but wiser, newer person coming out of the old ego and past. This figure is about letting go and growing into the ideal self … pushing away and rising above our old ways. This piece would have a very fluid motion as if the form was emerging out of the waters of rebirth.

After doing some research on ancient rebirth sculptures, I found a crude image of a six inch carved stone sculpture buried in a hypogeum burial chamber in Sardinia. It was created during the Stone Age in the Mediterranean area. From this small sculpture I developed the idea a female figure with folded arms adopting a stiff pose of death while the lower body depicts a chrysalis (butterfly cocoon) … symbolic of rebirth for her new life.

In the small model, the female figure is very tranquil, graceful, and peaceful and is very gentle and yet strong.

The final piece is cast in bronze and patinated in French patina and is about 6 feet tall. When completed the sculpture will rest on a mahogany granite base.

I believe meaningful artwork is a message from the soul, one that reflects the beauty and divinity within us.

Enjoy!
Pat Mack