Longtime Santa Fe resident, Elspeth Bobbs commissioned me in
2001 to create a Totem for a labyrinth she had laid out in her famous Santa
Fe garden. Many people visit her garden each year and Elspeth was looking for
a way to express her deep concerns for the environment, and particularly to
show the relationship between ourselves and the state of the world. She wanted
to do this and yet not entirely lose her wonderful sense of humor.
We thought that by incorporating
mirrors into the piece we could represent our own involvement, the intricate
and intimate
connections we have
with what has happened, and what will happen to this Earth. The mirrors could
also represent the “I” of consciousness itself, the “I” recognizing
itself.
And so evolved the idea of depicting four levels
of emotional development, and how as we manifest the behaviors implicit in
those levels,
we impact directly on our environment. In the process of growing up we mold
our surroundings- depleting, dividing, measuring, building, tearing down, altering,
connecting, and, ultimately, hopefully, accepting, understanding, and finding
a way to exist in harmony with each other, with all creatures, and with the
land. —HR