Mary Mountcastle Eubank

My work concerns itself with the connection between nature and culture, a relationship often paradoxical but mysterious and full of the possibilities that invite exploration. I have always been intrigued with the relationships between spirit and matter and between magical practices and natural processes. I have been combining acrylic paint, found objects and materials, and mixed media to make paintings and sculpture that reflect my concern for the natural world and for its intersection with the human spirit. The colors, textures and gestures come directly from nature, not to imitate any particular landscape but rather to point to a relationship that we have with the natural world. The work results from a process of retreat into the wild places, both in nature and the human psyche, the retreat being an essential part, I believe, of the artist's process.

I am also interested in the spiritual philosophy of alchemy and the way in which it incorporated all aspects and forces of nature and united the masculine and feminine principles. Alchemy embodies the concept of the unity of nature and culture, of matter and spirit. The alchemists believed that an understanding of and reverence for nature - the elements, the natural processes of earth, air, fire and water, were fundamental to the search for inner harmony, spiritual growth and balance.

I have worked for several years on a series, including paintings, three-dimensional assemblages and installation pieces, that I call "Forest Primeval." This work is about the Prelapsarian world, but since it contains detritus of the contemporary world, it suggests that The Garden no longer exists in its undisturbed state. The central image of Forest Primeval is a mysterious image of a scene from an early time in the life of the earth, an ancient forest scene filled with chaotic growth. The image originated from a book on dinosaurs, of which I have only a handful of badly burned pages. The remains of the book I discovered in the ashes of a friend's house, which within a few minutes had completely burned to the ground.

Making books has also been an interest for many years. Often these are sculptural objects, which refer only visually to real books, but lately I have been creating unique or limited edition books that function like traditional books. These too reflect my concern with our relationship with nature and consciousness.

Mixed-media continues to be my medium, but if anything I have expanded the definition of the term for myself. Like the surrealists I am interested in the interactions between literature, theater and the visual arts. Collaboration as a method of achieving this interdisciplinary mix is the process that I often choose because I like the discipline of integrating different points of view, ideas, aesthetics and skills. In 1986 I organized Miz-Maze Theatre, a collaborative group of artists, as a way of exploring from a contemporary perspective narratives that have their origins in various mythologies. Miz-Maze has been creating installations and theatre pieces since then.

Making art, I believe is a magical act, one that binds us back to the original art makers when art was done for ritualistic, propitiatory and sacramental purposes. This binding back is a process of continual return, a circularity that also roots us in the natural processes of nature - birth, death, decay and regeneration. We do this magic in the hopes of creating wonder, reverence and change. It is an invitation to the human imagination to expand, to play, to try on new ways of being - a transformation of consciousness