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My work celebrates the wonder of creation in forms that bridge art and the spiritual, while also mourning what has been lost or destroyed. A Thousand Arms of Compassion offers a path of deep reconnection with the miracle of life that is our Planet. By standing within the circles of branches, by placing our center in the center of the greater circle of Nature, we open ourselves to receiving Nature's creative force through her emissaries, the trees. We can expand our understanding of life to include more of the infinite circle that is the Universe. If we stand under, we understand.
 A Thousand Arms of Compassion is an installation that continues the work I began in 1987 with Earth, Peace and the Alphabet. Bringing to light the visible relationship between letter forms and nature, this project consists of thousands of forked branches installed in concentric circles in the tradition of the mandala. A further dimension of this work was inspired by the wondrous image of the Tibetan Boddhisattva of Compassion depicted with a thousand arms, symbolizing compassion, radiating from his torso. It was natural for me to go from limbs to arms finding that all we know, or should know,
comes from Nature.
It all began with a powerful encounter with a tree some years back. This tree, shaped as a Y, spoke of arms raised in praise. The shape and the prayer echoed visually through Mother Nature's generous sprinkling of forked branches, which I recognized as Ys when hiking in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This seemed to be a message of importance I needed to heed.
The Earth is my teacher and guide. By providing material that doubles as universal expression of prayer, She strengthens the connection I have with the metaphysical/poetic side of life: Y-shaped branches have become a deep personal symbol of the quest for meaning and healing as well as symbolic arms of compassion.
Art is prayer supported by the Earth.
Dominique Mazeaud • http://www.earthheartist.com/
January 2014
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