Up From the Ashes

In the redwood groves of northern California there is a magical thing that happens, a result of what we might call a tragedy, a blight:

Fire sweeps through the forest

clearing away all of the underbrush around these magnificent trees

creating a mulch on the woodland floor

and popping the hard seed casings that house the little Redwood blueprints...

the chaos and heat of fire is the only way a new tree can take root.

Well, I say 'hallelujah' to that; it seems to echo our own human spiritual growth patterns, does it not?

We burn in the fires of whatever consumes us:

jealousy

spite

pain

grief

aimlessness

and from that total consumption, something once hard gets cracked open and we see (if we look, oh please please always look)

a new beginning

a release of old patterns

the fresh experience of life in this new raw skin...

What looks like destruction

to our beauty-loving eyes

is actually

a painful gift.

These pieces are made to look as though they went through fire to get to the beautiful place they're currently in:

heavily oxidized, fiercely brushed...

They show the beauty of transformation,

a representation of renewed spirit in metal...

xoxoxo,

Allison