Opening the Eye Ritual/Vision Boxes

Barbizon Oak, Todd Jokl, Vision boxes, opening of the eyes, Sara Drought Nabel,, Uncategorized

On July 19th we had our official ceremony to celebrate the Vision Box project installed in Old Lyme Connecticut. The boxes had been up or a good month and getting plenty of public use but this was the official reception, I like to think of it as the “opening of the eye” ritual. In Ancient figurative sculptures the eyes were the last thing to get added by the sculptor. It was believed that when the eyes were added the sculpture was finally filled with life and spirit.  Though our boxes were not at all figurative they were about vision–of the kind that has a long view– and all of the boxes do feature the abstracted casting of a large eye.

The evening of the reception was exceptional, the temperature was in the  70’s and the sky was clear, not at all like the steamy weather earlier in the week.  An audience of about 40-50 people gathered at the Lyme Art Academy.   At the reception hosted by Dean Todd Jokl, we acknowledged all the people and groups who had made this project possible, made the necessary toasts and libations, and then announced that we would be taking a short walk to see two of the boxes located nearby. Thankfully all agreed to the idea and the group began to snake down Lyme street in the direction of Lyme Art Association, our first stop. The artist, Sara Nabel Drought, spoke about her painting featured on the box outside the Association and the history of the gallery and its founding by the American Impressionist painters.

We then crossed Lyme street to walk into the Champlain North refuge where the Barbizon oak is located. The group carefully made its way along the trail of high grass taking us past stone walls and foundations and then turned the wooded corner. In the clearing before us stood the grand Barbizon Oak dramatically spot lit by the setting sun.

We were spellbound by the spectacle. The Oak which had been muse to many artists and visitors for centuries looked like it had been expecting us.  For those few magical moments  the constant rumble of the  highway running past the preserve disappeared.  The wood thrush sang out and we were filled with the spirit of the place– the Oak had opened our eyes. And thanks to the vision of the Old Lyme Open Space commission the Oak was still there to work its magic in us.