ARKANGELS OF OUR TIMES: The Ark of Angels and Guardians
"If
I cried out who would hear me up there among the angelic orders?"
- Rainer
Marie Rilke, The First Duino Elegy
Shortly
after the arkangels were created, I attended a
memorial service* for a musician friend - Michael
Baker, given by Reverend
Max Woolaver at St. George The Martyr Church, Toronto, Canada. He reminded
the crowd of artists and friends assembled that the 'nave' of the church is so named
after 
an
Ark or boat, a vessel in which we all come together. His was a timely
reminder of my vision for the Arkangel body of work - a commitment to
express a love for a life in which we are all so very connected - in a
traveling form that can be shared with the world at large.
The
Arkangel Project functions as traveling mythology, reflecting its stories
of real people involved in earthly action and inspired by heavenly ideals.
From my ever-expanding circle of connections the models arise, embodying
both the reflective and the affective, the repulsive and the enlightening.
In the relentless circular movement of coiling and manipulating clay,
the life-like terra cotta portraits emerge to
echo the process of life in a human form - imaginative possibilities presented
through changing positions, intervals and attitudes. Individuality and
spirituality alight onto twisting, moving maquettes of clay.
The
sculpture collection of 'Arkangels & Guardians' is presented as an odyssey
of limitless numbers. The characters, both famous and unknown, weave an
ongoing narrative of a new way of seeing ourselves - essential to the
passing parade and keeping the Ark afloat. The role of the Guardians is
to direct, to set the stage. The role of the Arkangels is to act the many
roles that Life serves up. The unique qualities of each individual portrait
are shared with the world, as a visible expression of divine
spirit in real and present time.
Like
life itself,
the sculptural stage presents a space in which a drama,
any drama, may spontaneously unfold
as if by magic.
- Patricia
Brennan