FLOWERS AMONG THE STONES/ A Visionary Mixed Media Painting/ FIGURATIVE ABSTRACTION

                                

                                      Flowers Among the Stones

                                      1985
                                      by Eric Whollem
                                      watercolor and parafin resist on paper
                                      Collection of the artist
                                     15' x 20 5/8"
                                         Copyright by the artist.

The Goddess From Out the Rocky Cleft
Encourages the Flowers Among the Stones

The 1980's was a decade marked by advances in social
thinking. "The Goddess" was discovered for the first time
by many.

Some say that the entire countercultural movment from the
1960's was a feminist movement. Men started growing long
hair. Peace was advocated over war. Return to agrarian
ways of living, as was occurring at this time among youth,
was also a hallmark of the ancient matriarchal ways.

The book, The Chalice and the Blade, made profound
observations on the history of men and women. It related
how warrior tribes from the eastern steppes began to raid
the peacful farmlands of Eastern Europe. At that time a
"partnership society" existed incorporating men and women
as harmonious co-workers. Government was matriarchal.
Wars were few. After the invasions from the steppes
patriarchal rule began. And war, which largely at first
amounted to cattle raiding, escalated in European society.

Marija Gimbutas, the feminist archaeologist, was active
in the 80's bringing to deserved prominence the forgotten
lore of the matriarchy as well as the art treasures of Goddess
iconography.

My ceramic sculptures in the 1980's were largely Goddess
oriented due to the new mindframe of the times. Through
the 1990's to the present my sculpture has had a leaning
towards reclaiming the lost lore of old.

I actually met Marija Gimbutas at the Society For California
Archaeology Convention in Sacramento back in the early
1990's. I had an exhibit of my ceramics in the Book Room,
where Stan Padilla, the Yaqui artist, and Marija Gimbutas
and others had exhibits of their work. Ms. Gimbutas remarked
that my figurines had a certain ancient Romanian flavor. She
had a table with editions of her current books for sale. Her
book, Language of the Goddess is her masterwork.

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Anthropology, Goddess, Marija Gimbutas, mythology.