Homage to Ma- 2007

The second shrine that I created was a lunar shrine across the Bay at the base Mt Tam in Marin County. It was mothers day weekend and I had invited my good artist friend, Billy to collaborate with me on this one. As we were hiking we ascended a hill and we were amazed at what we saw. It was picturesque. Two young redwood trees had framed a brilliant waterfall.
Two elements were necessary in creating this lunar shrine, the first was that the place had to be near a water source and the shape of the shrine was to be in the form of a crescent that would surround the base of two trees. This time the medium that I used was spices and pigments from the Asian market. Again organic pigments were intuitively and meditatively placed in half circles creating crescent shape. While my friend and I created our lunar shrines, several women with their small babies kept gravitating onto the scene and inquired what we were doing. I am not sure whether it was it synchronicity or coincidence, but something was happening beyond the ordinary. We both looked at each other and mused that our lunar shrine must be working. It seemed to be attracting mother energy.
, “ I stumbled upon a sacred moment. My nephew and I went walking on a wooded trail near our home. He is twelve years old and loves the woods. We are gland to be close. But even in the woods we were distracted. Thinking of other things, not particularly present with each other or where we were. We stumbled upon the shrine at Cascade Falls, and it awoke something inside us. What is this? We wondered. Look at these colors…around this beautiful tree, and resonant energy..this is where people have gathered to honor this place. And so we finally entered into a place where we were, and arrived, home at the falls.” Bennett Johnston

This was a special shrine, so far it is the only one that I have heard about someone's experience of my Earth art, by accident or maybe not by accident. The universe is amazing ...

WHAT IS THIS WORK ALL ABOUT

Site Specific- Earth Works

“ I stumbled upon a sacred moment. My nephew and I went walking on a wooded trail near our home. He is twelve years old and loves the woods. We are glad to be close. But even in the woods we were distracted. Thinking of other things, not particularly present with each other or where we were. We stumbled upon the shrine at Cascade Falls, and it awoke something inside us. What is this? We wondered. Look at these colors…around this beautiful tree, and resonant energy ... this is where people have gathered to honor this place. And so we finally entered into a place where we were, and arrived, home at the falls.”
Bennett Johnston


My earthworks are collaborative installations that pay homage to trees in and around the Bay Area that emanate power or have an absence of it. It began as a practice to rekindle my ancient relationship with trees. Evidence of human kind’s interconnection with trees traces back well over 6,ooo years. Humanity once had a deep spiritual relationship with trees. Indeed, the precursor to our dominant patriarchal religions was the tree.
My work is a cross culture phenomenon inspired by the Kalaptura tree (wishing tree) of India and by various ancient and indigenous cultures around the globe that worshipped trees. While creating these works metaphysically, I activate my belief in animism ---- the shamanistic worldview that bodies in nature have souls and consciousness.


Thus far I have created eleven earthworks, five being solar and six being lunar. The solar or circle shrines symbolize the archetype of the masculine. The crescent or lunar shrines symbolize the archetype of the feminine and must be created near a water source. I employ these two energies through the intuitive action of creating concentric circles around the trunk of a tree with pigments, spices, and food from Asia, India, and South America. The inner rings of the tree seem to exteriorize and vibrate with energy through the vibrant and contrasting colors of the pigments. After each work is complete I meditate with the tree and document my experience.
An important aspect of this project is the witnessing and of the interaction of the work by another to activate its potential for the witness to remember something they have forgotten. My intention is for my shrines to evoke introspection and a sense of the sacred for those who stumble upon them in a forest or in a city.



One of my latest tree shrines was a solar shrine created at Lincoln Child Center, a mental health agency for abused children where I teach transformative art. It was a collaborative project with my students. The tree we chose was a neglected olive tree located on a small island of dirt surrounded by cement. We poured the pigments and contrasting hues to activate the solar energy in the concentric circles. Then we tore Sari cloth and ribbons and asked all the children to make wishes as they tied the ribbons to the tree. The children intuitively asked permission from the tree. One child wished for world peace. Another wished to go home. A third wished he would not be restrained anymore. The wind blew through the tree with the simplicity and majesty of Tibetan prayer flags, carrying my students’ wishes away.


My earthworks are expanding internationally. I have decided to create shrines around the globe. In March of 2008, I went to Copper Canyon in Mexico and I created a shrine in around a tree located in a place called “the valley of frogs.” From afar, I noticed several people looking at the shrine with curiosity. I hope my shrines will help build awareness of our spiritual connection with the environment, and that they will help foster reverence for all life.

Tree Quote

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.
- William Blake, 1799, The Letters

Mandorla: Berkeley Marina

This is a place were I mediate and I wanted to ritualize my experience. It is a reflection of how many times I have sat on this stone facing the Bay in a state of Being. The mandorla is the term used in sacred geometry when two circles merge and the in between is one.

Tree Quote

Gradually, the trees were reduced from living spirits to little more than timber sources.
Some of the ancient lore was passed on by oral tradition through a long line of country folk, albeit sometimes in a Christianised form to make it more acceptable to the 'authorities'. Much of it is missing, as is the case with the Beech. The only way we gain regain what was lost is to stop thinking of trees as merely timber and amenity. All the world would benefit if we are able to relate to trees fully once more: as our friends, our providers, our healers. But especially as creatures who have their own lives to lead and their own role to fulfill in the community of Earthly beings. Once we understand that, we will hopefully stop sabotaging their many contributions, and work side by side with these giant plants rather than merely exploiting them.

Anna Fraser

Sacred Fig, Buddhism

All the minorities of Xishuangbanna, China including the Dai minority, are nations of the forests. From ancient times till up to the present, the forests are the basic material and environment conditions for their survival. Forests are the objects of their worshipping and their worshipping for forests also has close relations with their worshipping of ancestors. In such circumstances, in all the villages and the unit above villages, they at least keep one piece of forest, which is called "Longshan wood" (village wood).

Sacred Tree Nepal

I love Nepal I traveled there in 1996. It was a life changing experience. I spread my Mom's ashes there after seeing an amazing image of the Green Tara.

The Green Tara is a bodhisattva - an enlightened being who refuses to go to nirvana until she enlightens all souls. She is the divine Mother - the mother of all the buddhas. She embraced me on a pilgrimage to the Nepalese mountains.

My journey to those mountains was one of healing. I had come to spread my recently deceased mother's ashes into the sacred landscape. I came with a tour group of 14 people. We hiked through the mountains each day. On the day of the most difficult climb, I fell terribly ill. I thought I was going to die. But I got through it. The next day, I felt rejuvenated. I saw the sun rise, and I embraced the beauty of the morning. I felt like I had died the night before, and that I had been reborn. I knew in my heart that this was the right day to spread my mother's ashes.

After breakfast, we began hiking again. In the afternoon, as we were ascending to a monastery in the mountains, I saw a magnificent river carving its way through the landscape passionately. My eyes were drawn above it. Three hundred feet on a cliff, I saw an image of the Green Tara. I was awestruck by the shooting stars painted above her figure. For a few moments, I felt connected to the eternal. I felt my mother communicating with me, telling me that she would always be with me.

On the evening I heard the shocking news of my mother's death, I stared at the sky hoping for an answer... a reason. Blazing through the Chicago night, I saw a shooting star... 'Mom'? That same evening, my older brother also saw a shooting star in the night, as he tormented over my mother's death. We both were moved to write and express this at her wake.

When I saw the shooting stars above the Green Tara, I knew that I was meant to be there at that moment in time. I felt my mother's love, and the warmth of her embrace. For a few moments, I felt that I was one with the universe, and that I would never be alone.

The stars and the Green Tara embraced me. I was filled with peace and a sense of letting go. I knew this place was where my mother wanted her ashes to be united with the universe.

Afterwards, on a short sabbatical in the Ozarks at my family home, my passion for the Green Tara spewed from my paintbrush and my soul. She has been my guardian from the moment I saw her on the cliff. She embraces the world, and assists all who ask for her guidance. She demonstrates her magic when one is letting go... and bliss transcends.