Cycles of Spheres: Mapping the Planets in Silk and Sound

Cycles of Spheres: Mapping the Planets in Silk and Sound, a multimedia exhibit, offers a unique sculptural approach to our corner of the universe: the solar system. Large-scale silk batiks of the planets are arranged as if imprisoned in time. Each silk tableau provides a window to an individual planet's personality. Each batik also serves as a visual prayer addressing problems facing our modern day Earth. Monotype prints on paper and Polaroid transfers further extend the interpretation of aerial phenomena. Music enhances the exhibit, evoking the majesty of our nine planetary worlds.



The table on the left holds a book with empty pages and is for the viewer's interaction - to write or draw their prayers for people in need, environmental concerns, or self. Mark Mercury's music has been edited especially for this exhibition to quietly infuse the space on a loop of 55 minutes.

A further interactive dimension of this exhibition is provided by electronic imagist and artist Gregory K. H. Bryant, who has created a web-based component for the installation. This will enable even viewers who cannot be in Charleston to participate in the exhibition through www.maryedna.com. A virtual tour of the old city jail room with an iPIX camera will link a computer audience. They can zoom in and out, circularly pan the prison and can Email responses. This will be archived on a CDROM for future exhibitions.

Cycles of Spheres is organized with the assistance of Anne Collins Goodyear, who specializes in the relationship of art to science and technology. Goodyear is a Lecturer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

The pioneering work of contemporary American artist, Mary Edna Fraser, has been collected and exhibited worldwide. In 1994-95 she was the first woman to be honored with a one-person exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. She has completed numerous public commissions for such venues as the American Embassy in Thailand and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Working in the ancient textile medium of batik, Fraser utilizes modern dye technology with aerial and satellite photography, integrating images into silk. She often combines many batiks at a time into sculptural installations and this new series of batiks of our solar system represents a natural development of this theme.

Los Angeles based composer Mark Mercury creates music that is a blend of contemporary classical and futuristic electronic, in which traditional orchestral timbres are fused with newly created, synthesized sounds. Noted for an inventive and dramatic style, Mercury's composing has been heard around the globe. He has released "The Art of Space" and "Music of the Domes." Also to his credit are numerous soundtracks for film, television, animation, and high-tech multimedia planetariums, including "And A Star To Steer Her By," "The New Solar System," "Universe of Illusions," and "Exploring New Worlds" for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Albert Einstein Planetarium. His most recent planetarium composition, Suite 1 of "The Greatest Wonders of the Universe," is featured in this presentation.

Cycles of Spheres: Mapping the Planets in Silk and Sound

Old City Jail Installation Charleston, SC May 19 - June 9, 2001

Interpretative Commentary by Anne Collins Goodyear Lecturer, Division of Adult Programs, Department of Education The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Mary Edna Fraser's multimedia installation, Cycles of Spheres: Mapping the Planets in Silk and Sound, explores the relationship of the individual to the local, global, and even cosmic environment. Working in the ancient medium of batik, Fraser creates images on silk that are inspired by contemporary technologies and contemporary concerns. Her batiks interpret aerial photographs of local areas, such as the South Edisto River ("South Edisto River, South Carolina," 1999), and satellite imagery of large regions of the planet earth, like the Nile Delta Desert Islands ("Nile Delta Desert Islands," 1999), and the distant reaches of our solar system, as in views of Uranus ("Faint Disk," 2000), and even the first planet ever glimpsed beyond our own solar system ("Heavenly Body," 2000). In Cycles of Spheres, these batiks are combined with one another and with the musical compositions of Mark Mercury to create a suggestive interplay between the individual, the world, and the universe she occupies. The diversity of Fraser's imagery testifies to the artist's ability to cross disciplinary boundaries and to join the practices of art and science. Many of Fraser's source photographs of the local South Carolina coastline are shot by the artist herself from her grandfather's 1946 Ercoupe prop plane. Her use of satellite imagery is made possible by her collaboration with planetary scientists at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Through her discussion with scientists studying both the earth and the recently revealed terrains of distant planets, such as Uranus, Fraser is able to interpret the visual documentation provided by satellites and to make informed determinations about color and texture. Fraser's art exposes the aesthetic and spiritual dimensions of scientific research into the nature of the universe itself.

Fraser's batiks render manifest the very vulnerability of human vision and human experience itself. Gazing at "Faint Disk" (2000), a view of the planet Uranus, one is made vitally aware of one's own smallness. At the sametime, the delicacy of Fraser's images of the South Edisto River, South Carolina and the Nile Delta make evident the precarious balance of forces on which the geographic formations we often take for granted. In "Heavenly Body" (2000), Fraser brings home the vulnerability of the human body itself, by creating a work that both represents the first planet ever detected beyond our solar system and alludes to the suicide of a friend who could not find release in life from a personal prison of uncertainty. As Fraser's ability to move gracefully between the cosmic, the local, and the personal suggests, scale is a critical aspect of her work. The problem of scale is developed not through imagery alone, but also through the relationship of these large, silk batiks to much smaller, but equally vivid monotypes and to Polaroid transfers, smaller still. Fraser's monotypes and Polaroid transfers, each unique works, open up the question of the scale of physical size-how do we measure magnitude on a human, global, and, today, cosmic level? They also make us aware of temporal dimensions of scale. One cannot help but reflect on Fraser's facility with the ancient (in human terms) technique of batik, with more recent technology of the monotype, and with the even more recent, contemporary process of the Polaroid transfer. Held in comparison with the duration of the geological and planetary structures that Fraser pictures, of course, the history of the most long-lived of human approaches to art-making is dwarfed. Perhaps most strikingly, Fraser's installation of batiks, which acquire a sculptural presence as they are draped from above, also assume the dimension of sound through their interaction with the compositions of Mark Mercury. By combining her batiks with Mercury's music, Fraser makes us aware of the larger environment in which her own work operates. She brings home to her audience not only the visual serenity of the cosmos, the Earth, and South Carolina, seen from the air, but also the ethereal strains of their auditory equivalents, as interpreted by Mark Mercury. Fraser makes literal the ancient notion of the harmony of the celestial spheres. Her work develops a series of visual prayers and musical poetry that attune us anew to the poignancy of our local, global, and cosmic environment. The "Missing World," it seems, is here. We need only allow our imaginations to be fired by Fraser's own to escape the barriers of inattentiveness.

Visual Prayers addressing our modern day Earth

"Appalachia" batik on silk, 27" x 49"
This mountainscape silk aids in the celestial journey of the spirits of those imprisoned in the Old City Jail. While photographing this piece I was flying in my Dad's experimental airplane, strapped in a harness with no doors. A little prayer was said on this flight.

"Crater Aurelia" Venus, batik on silk, 57" x 49"
This silk is dedicated to Lilia, a two year old deaf child, and for all who are handicapped. The volcanic dome Aurelia is one of many on Venus. The image suggests a delicate ballerina skirt with Lilia dancing across the planetary landscape.

"Earthscaping" batik on silk, 47" x 47"
This is a prayer for our Earth.

"Edo Linen" batik on linen, 110" x 17"
A meditative aerial dreamscape, Edo Linen is a contemplative rest from life' s constant whir. It is a pause for the mind to wander.

"Faint Disk" Uranus, batik on silk, 45" x 44"
Unspoken thoughts whisper unheard echoes in this depiction of the blue green gaseous planet. A need for individual identity is pondered with wax and dyes.

"Heavenly Body" planet outside our solar system, batik on silk, 41" x 52"
This is the first planet to be visualized outside the Earth's solar system, shown as a vaguely eclipse-like image passing in front of a bright star. When a friend committed suicide, I felt that the dark Charleston green other world planet symbolized her life. She was surrounded by the light of caring people but her own darkness was her demise.

"Io's Shadow" Jupiter, batik, 38" x 49"
My dear friend Fran has combated cancer for years. Io's shadow is her journey in this life. The big red storm on Jupiter pays homage to those who have suffered and overcome disease.

"Light on Water" batik on silk, 61" x 53"
A prayer for hope and wisdom

"Mt. Pinatubo" Philippines, batik on silk, 31" x 36"
As the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century, this silk is a reminder of the power of nature. While working on Mt. Pinatubo I was thinking "ashes to ashes and dust to dust"... of disasters and the end of life.

"Nile Delta Desert Islands" batik on silk, 52" x 36"
This batik looks like a lush lotus leaf but in truth depicts the Nile's parched edges. It is a prayer for water.

"Nocturnal" batik on silk, 36" x 36"
A prayer for rest

"Pacific Full Moon" batik on silk, 50" x 44"
As a child I would gaze at the moon outside my window. It seemed to help lift clouds of worry. From 200 miles above Earth this view is a plea that technology will be used for betterment of humanity.

"Pluto and Charon" batik on silk, 102" x 54"
Our Solar System's most distant, smallest and coldest planet is mysterious as is her moon Charon. Pluto is the only planet never visited by a spacecraft. The draping of this silk represents the balance of life; a striving to find harmony in an often discordant world.

"Reflective Waters" batik on silk, 28" x 36"
This batik is an invocation for innocence.

"Rings of Ice" Saturn, batik on silk, 43" x 36"
Our world has struggled with discrimination since the beginning of recorded history. The rings of ice that circle Saturn remind us of those outside in the cold.

"Saluda Cut" North Carolina, batik on silk, 38" x 35"
Abandonment and abuse are the issues contemplated in the dyeing of this silk batik.

"Sand on Mars" batik on silk, 36" x 60"
Joy, love, and caring are the emotions I draw into my embrace of my daughters. They are shifting into adulthood and the sand represents hope for safe passage.

"Setting Sun" batik on silk, 54" x 45"
"Let not the sun go down on your anger." A visual prayer against violence and rage

"South Edisto River" South Carolina, batik on silk, 156" x 36"
The black river is suggestive of a large scale Japanese Edo print on silk instead of paper. The batik is a metaphor for friendship.

"Toogoodoo Creek" South Carolina, batik on silk, 19' x 3'
Nestled in the ACE Basin north of Charleston, Toogoodoo's edges house old rice fields, tomato farms, and rural beauty. This silk is a petition for the protection of our cherished wetlands.



Old City Jail Exhibition: The Missing World Piccolo Spoleto May 19 - June 9, 2001



Monotypes on Paper

"Before" 26" x 13"

"Close to the Sun" 17.5" x 13"

"Dawn", "Dusk", "Night" - Triptych 14" x 27"

"Ephemeral" 16" x 13"

"Passage" 16" x 13"

"Planetary Moons" 17.5" x 13"

"Rain" 26" x 13"

"Shores Without Oceans" 28.5" x 16"



Polaroid Transfers on Paper

"Ace Moon Triptych" 14" x 27"

"Charleston Red" 11" x 13"

"Cross Island" 12" x 12"

"Hurricane Season" 11" x 13"

"Triptych" 13" x 26"



Please leave your own prayers and comments on Email to Mary Edna.