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Article: Follow your dreams: tree of life: Laura Rinaldi Dufresne describes how Paula Smith's ceramic tree emerged.(Critical essay)
- Article from:
- Ceramics Technical
- Article date:
- January 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Ceramics Art & Perception Pty. Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Always considered a manifestation of divine presence, the tree of life has long been an object of veneration, as a symbol of the communication between the heavenly, earthly and lower realms.
Lucia Impelluso, Nature and Its Symbols, 2004 (16).
PAULA SMITH'S TREE OF LIFE is a majestic ceramic tree composed of 22 separate parts. It is as visionary as the medieval Rood, set against a robin's egg blue wall, with a shape suggesting several forms simultaneously: an ankh, a saguaro cactus, steer horns, even an exotic melding of a Mexican candelabra and a Jewish menorah. "All of these symbols, and more, contribute to the shape of my tree," explains ...