Numinosity.

Senior, Dayna Freeman was the most recent artist to show in the Corridor Gallery. Below is the show statement and images. YAY silk worms!

Numinosity – the distinct feeling that one is in the presence of a mysterious unseen.

 

 I spent the summer before my senior year at the Kansas City Art Institute raising silkworms. I was captivated by the strange, fluffy moths and the soft, silk cocoons they spun; the amateur entomologist in me itched to get my hands on these tiny creatures. I had planned to raise a generation or two of Bombyx mori moths over the summer, study their life cycles in a scientific manner, and write a short report on their progress. Ideas of blogs and zines were tossed around. It would be an exciting summer project, a science experiment that would further my entomological interests. The little, summer, directed study turned into an experience that shaped the manner in which I created my art. As I watched my silkworms spin themselves into tiny, alien orbs, I felt as though I was in the presence of something magical. Silkworms are the most numinous of creatures: somehow, inside their ugly, maggotesque bodies are soft, powdery wings, dark antennas like pairs of false eyelashes and silk- pure, raw, luminous silk. When you look at a silkworm, it is easy to be disgusted. They are squirmy creatures, you can hear them eat- a subtle, queasy, munching, white noise – and they look as though they should be feasting on corpses. But the moths are enchanting, delicate, and soft. They are sweet and docile. The transformation is beautiful and secret. When you stare at a cocoon, you will sometimes glimpse a shadow of the creature inside, but nothing more. It is mysterious and magical. The numinous experience of the silk moths led me to seek out an artistic process that would create a similar mysterious unseen. Images are pale, hidden or obscured. I strove to create art that engages the viewer to take a close and careful study; art that suggests, rather than tells completely.

Six Secret Vessels

Bombyx mori cocoons with glass beads, thread, straight pins and cl

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