HOMEChoose a category to view some of Mary McClelland's paintings
 Animals |
 Insects |
 Bones |
 Mosaics |
 People |
 Spiritual Paintings |
Alphabetical list of painting images |
Whirling Dervish (acrylic on
canvas) - One of many threads that ran through
Mary's complex spiritual growth was a strong
affinity for the mysticism of the Sufis.
In the vision that inspired this painting, a
Sufi whirling dervish spins on top of a beaver
skull, with a man and a woman (Adam and Eve?)
reclining below, and the apse from Chartres
cathedral floating above. The Light,
overseeing all and emanating from the dervish's
hands, flows up toward Heaven, and also shines
down on the earthly beings below.
"It's just cathedrals - a mixture of - and sort of thoughts that went into cathedrals, and it's the wakening, actually. See, he's, yes, the way most of us live. You know, we're kind of half asleep and we're not really so aware of all these things, and he does this quiet dance on the death skull. " |
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