I have always had a thing about counting my steps. As I kid it helped me to learn to count. As a high school student carrying many books I made sure I knew how many steps to get to the next level so I would not fall. Even when I owned my business I counted steps from my parking spot to the front door.In fact I would make sure they were the same number steps each time. If I was off by a few steps…..well …once I even went back and started again! WOW! Talk about compulsive!
I have had a reoccurring dream throughout many years about climbing stairs. In 1989 I travelled to Greece with a group of Artists’ . We were sketching the dig at Akrotiri in Santorini. They were uncovering an ancient staircase and armed guards were protecting the site. We could not climb the stairs or even take pictures, but we could sketch them. At night I would dream about these stairs. They became an obsession with me.
When I returned home I turned my sketches into paintings. I painted many of them over the years. Recently we moved and I found photos of these paintings and decided to recreate them in fabric. And of course after many years I began dreaming of those stairs again! What does it mean and why do they keep coming into my life. A sign of good or a warning? Am I going up or going down?
Why do we dream? What do they mean? Do the same dreams mean the same thing? Stairs!
are they haunting me?
We moved on Dec 3 and the first thing I did was ….fall down the stairs!
Stairs at Akrotiri ….
”Stairs”. 40” X Aprx 30”. Dyed fabric, curved vertical appliqué and paint. Some commercial fabrics. Detail below, plus more pieces to share!
These are other pieces I did from the original paintings
my shadow looking up the stairs
I had never heard of someone having the habit of counting stairs and dreaming about it repeatedly, and I found that truly fascinating. I was deeply moved by how beautifully and wonderfully your dream is reflected in your work.
Repetition and a rhythm give us comfort and security. Sometimes, we have a little stutter in our thought pattern and we trip. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off…….. Fabulous work Al.
We are 99% the same person! The missing 1% would be that I have a masters degree in falling UP the stairs rather than down. I also am obsessed with counting stairs. Somewhere in a boxed up journal, I recoded how many steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and descending into the Great Pyramid at Giza. I counted the crazy metal staircase going up the Diamondhead volcano crater (over 100), but got a different number when I later went down the same staircase, so I turned around and went back up it again, and back down.
Stairs as a symbol is an interesting one. Even going down the stairs may not mean something negative (falling down them aside). It could mean you are moving towards grounding yourself to a firm foundation. Only you can decide.
This is a wonderful interpretation of the theme and your piece has a striking dreamlike quality I hadn’t imaged could be captured in fabric. I love it. High five!
Well put!
All so richly colored and textured. Beautifully done, Albert.