Riveting Story Behind Striking Sculpture

Though Paige Bradley has a few “trademark” sculptures, the Internet came and fell in love with one particular one that’s causing people from all over the world to see her art for the very first time. It’s an incredibly beautiful sculpture of a naked woman with light bleeding out of her cracked body.

How did this piece, called Expansion, come about? The sculptor just shared with us her fascinating and inspiring story.

“I conceived of this piece when I first moved to Manhattan,” she says. “I was a bit startled by the power of the curators and the critics and how they all had an anti-figure slant on what they deemed show-worthy. So many of these people felt like everything figurative had already been done, and real art was about being a ‘Visionary’ rather than just showing ability, accuracy or general talent. Thus, the figure had generally disappeared from galleries, museums, important collections, art fairs and other shows. The few of us that were left, had no place to exhibit and our voice was not being heard. Many figurative sculptors started teaching, as though that was all they could do.

“If I wanted to stay in the fine art field, I knew I had to join my contemporaries and make ‘contemporary’ art. I knew that it was time to let go of all the finely-tuned skills I had acquired over the years, and just trust in the process of making art. The art world was telling me I had to break down my foundation, let my walls crumble, expose myself completely, and from there I will find the true essence of what I needed to say.

“So, literally, I took a perfectly good wax sculpture – a piece I had sculpted with precision over several months – an image of a woman meditating in the lotus position, and just dropped it on the floor. I destroyed what I made. I was letting it all go. It was scary. It shattered into so many pieces. My first feeling was, ‘What have I done!?!’ Then, I trusted it would all come together like I envisioned.

“We cast all the pieces in bronze and assembled the pieces so they floated apart from one another. Then I brought in a lighting specialist and we built a crazy lighting system to make it glow from within. It turned out even better than I thought. And the best is that the image of Expansion means so much to so many who see it. I get letters every day! I feel like I really did my job successfully!”

In addition to her story, Bradley also shared with us some never-before-seen photos of the sculpture at different angles. Source - HERE

Paige Bradley’s website

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

The Healing Property of Tears

7 Good Reasons to Cry

New York Times reporter Benedict Carey referred to tears in a piece as “emotional perspiration.” In his intriguing article, “The Miracle of Tears”, author Jerry Bergman writes: “Tears are just one of many miracles which work so well that we taken them for granted every day.” Here, then, are seven ways tears and the phenomenon we call “crying” heal us physiologically, psychologically, and spiritually.

1. Tears help us see.

2. Tears kill bacteria.

3. Tears remove toxins.

4. Crying can elevate mood.

5. Crying lowers stress.

6. Tears build community.

7. Tears release feelings.

Read more, here. 

Men Don't Cry

Although crying is natural, some cultures still send messages that strong men don’t cry. But until recently, many cultures believed that tears were a sign of manliness. World history and literature are filled with male leaders who cried publicly. Tears meant that a man lived by a code of values and cared enough to show emotion when things went wrong. Medieval warriors and Japanese samurai cried during times of epic tragedy. In Western culture, a man’s capacity to cry indicated his honesty and integrity. Abraham Lincoln used strategic tears during his speeches, and modern presidents have followed suit. Despite all this, until recently, men shedding tears have been viewed as less than masculine.

After decades of berating men for their tears, culture seems to be returning to the idea that crying is a male strength. A recent Penn State study found that participants considered a man’s tears to be a sign of honesty while a woman’s tears showed emotional weakness. In both sexes, a delicate misting of the eye was more acceptable than crying.

Why do you feel better after you cry?

According to the Minnesota study, crying can help to wash chemicals linked to stress out of our body, one of the reasons we feel much better after a good cry. Higher levels of adrenocorticotrophic (ACTH) have been found in emotional tears (compared to reflex tears).

Lachrymatory ~ Tear Bottle

In ancient Persia, when a sultan returned from battle, he checked his wives’ tear catchers to see who among them had wept in his absence and missed him the most.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, in Psalm 56.8, as David prays to God, he is referenced to say “Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears in Thy bottle; are they not in Thy Book”.

Tear Catchers were commonly used during Ancient Roman times, with mourners filling glass bottles with their tears, and placing them in tombs as a symbol of their respect for the deceased. It was also used to show remorse, guilt, love and grief. The women cried during the procession, and the more tears collected in tear bottles meant the deceased was more important. The bottles used during the Roman era were lavishly decorated and measured up to four inches in height.

Tear bottles reappeared during the Victorian period of the 19th century when those mourning the loss of loved ones would collect their tears in bottles with special stoppers that allowed the tears to evaporate. When the tears had evaporated, the mourning period would end.

The tear bottle tradition has historically been a mourning tradition. Only in contemporary times have tears of joy and inspiration been captured. In current music and literature, tear bottles have once again been romanticized. References to the power of the tear bottle tradition occur in contemporary music videos, novels, and poetry. Contemporary tear bottles are created by glass artists around the world and a few successful manufacturers.

Today, lachrymatory bottles may also be called a tear bottle, tear catcher, tear vial, unguentaria, or unguentarium. There are also several less common spellings for lachrymatory, including lachrimatory. Source - HERE

Love and light,

Trace

xoxo

Ben Hibon ~ Mirror Mirror

A beautiful fairy-tale video

MIRROR MIRROR / opening sequence from Ben Hibon on Vimeo.