Persephone's Dream, the update

Exciting things are happening with Persephone's Dream; A Prayer for Peace. I made a radical decision to get her cast in bronze, and even before the casting is finished, she has been accepted to a very competitive biennial exhibit called Art in the Orchard! I will install her there in July and the show is open from August though Thanksgiving this year and next.

I will also have her available for sale at Paradise City on Memorial Day weekend - near the end of May.

And she won 4th place in the 9th Annual Figurative Exhibit in Light Space and Time.

What is she about?

It was last year that I realized that she had an essential message for our time about a kind of strength and presence, and I needed to get her out in the world. She is a powerful woman, and she is holding her own boundaries so that she can go inside and connect to her deeper self. She is making time for self reflection, even in the chaos of life. And she is calm and strong, not combative or overwhelmed.

We can find this place in ourselves and it is essential that we do, otherwise we are being reactive and stressed out, and this is not only not good for ourselves, but also for the people and causes that we care about. She is a deeply healing reminder of our own innate capacity for calm reflection and deep inner wisdom, for peace.

What is in a title?
Persephone's Dream: A Prayer for Peace
Persephone is a Greek goddess who has a story that speaks of deep compassion and the ability to hold both/and with love. She was the daughter of Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest, and she was chosen by Hades, the god of the underworld, to be his wife. The story goes that Demeter was so distraught that she caused all the plants to die back and the cold to come. Life on earth was going to perish, so a deal was struck that Persephone would return for half the year, and in so doing would create new growth and vitality. 

 Persephone is married to Hades- which could be read as she was abducted and lives in misery. But what if she actually loves Hades and is wed with love to his mission as the god of the underworld. She can see all the pain and misery with a sense of compassion. 

And when she emerges, her presence causes spring, hope and new life. She can know and hold both the ugly truth of despair and also beautiful, hopeful growth. How amazing is that. She is not in denial, and yet she has peace.

I love this metaphor and I think we have a lot to learn in it.

I  would take it one step further and ask what if the underworld is not hell as we think of it in the western world, the painful pit of all things bad, but instead more like the subconscious? What if it is the un-illuminated space of the psyche, that part of the self and the culture that is churning with all the old stories, from which fear and struggle emerge, but also growth and change. So when Persephone emerges it is with a sense of clarity having grappled with the challenges in the underworld.

Either way, this sculpture is a beacon of strength, clear boundaries and silent contemplation. 


My intention is to get her out into public arts exhibits and to organizations whose mission is related to hers. If you know of any organizations that you feel she is well suited for, please comment and let me know!

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