The inspiration behind – The Space In Between…

Lovely to be able to finally share this piece and the story behind it…

“There is a crack in everything…That’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen (Anthem, 1992.)

The inspiration for this piece is two-fold.  On the one hand, there is the microscopic world of plant cells – in particular, vascular bundles in plant stems.  Their patterns, the texture and layers in these bundles, how they sit together – the visual, structural and functional aspects of it are fascinating and inspiring.  It is the life blood of a plant.

Then there are the cracks, the space in between these cells.  When I was sketching this piece, I was struck by this phrase – the space in between.  And my mind was no longer thinking about cross-section of xylem and phloem but about a very human condition – when we seek to understand events in our lives we are sometimes stuck in this
space in between.

But, in this space there is huge energy, the intangible can exist here, there can be more questions than answers, but the light can’t come in if we don’t leave space.

This piece represents this moment – this space in between knowing and not knowing.

As artists, we learn to lean in to these spaces, it is often here that we find inspiration, and much like a plant, new growth.

#sculptureincontext #MichelleMaher #CeramicSculpture #inspiration #botanicgardens #dublin @nbgireland