ORIGIN OF THE KEY-HALO, 1995

I accidently dropped my ring of keys that landed on the key-tips. At first, I couldn’t believe what I saw. This serendipitous event led to the creation of the halo that I’ve sculpt in wood and metal. In the ’94 photo titled, Self-Portrait, I attached keys around the wood halo worn atop my head. One can extrapolate the meaning of keys that opens doors to unknown frontiers. Doors are symbolic of finding new pathways. It’s our unconscious need to seek these paths that enable innovation. I’m allowing my mind to wander here, but I’ll never forget confronting that closed stairway door in ‘73 that led-out into my college courtyard. I recall that moment like yesterday and still can’t figure how or why it felt so strange. Call it intuition, instinct, or divine intervention. I burst open the door, stepped out into the courtyard, and had a “vision” that encompassed the entire landscape of trees, sidewalks, people, and grass. Having seen things so differently, I immortalized that vision in the ’74 sculpture, Emergence & Transformations. We have language to explain our world, but sometimes it’s a feeling that defies explanation. Perhaps that’s where we construed the phrase: Action speaks louder than words. Once opening the door that led to the courtyard, I envisioned a new perspective that I meticulously describe in my 3-book series in progress. The series is a fictionalized account of my search taking place in the year 2029. Beginning that moment when the vision occurs, the question, who am I? has to be answered that launches the theme of the story.