Biophilia on the Blue Orb

SUPER/NATURAL

JUDITH SCHAECHTER

 

Museum of Craft & Design

Ongoing – February 8

Schaechter, Super/Natural

     Judith Schaexhter has built us a Wunderkammer – a “wonder room” a/k/a a “Cabinet of Curiosities” as she reaches out to address our role in in saving the planet, by providing the space where we can emotionally realize our connection to all other life on our Blue Orb.

This exhibition explores the universality of natural elements, patterns and ornament as vehicles for meditations on beauty. Schaechter has shed new light on the traditional medium of stained glass and underscores the central structure’s biophilic beauty. This dome, also titled Super/Natural, is Schaechter’s largest project to date, designed to accommodate a single viewer inside.

     The choice of images in the dome’s stained glass covering reflects her study of biophilic design – our innate and genetically predetermined affinity to connect with the natural world. Once inside the space, the visitor gains an understanding of biophilia’s impact on human consciousness. Super/Natural invites reflection on both inner space — our neurological and psychological experience of environments — and outer space — how we extend ourselves into the world around us.

     Inside this secular temple, you encounter the “blue marble” of Earth from a more intimate perspective, suggesting that we are not merely observers of nature, but connected to it. Filled with a riot of imagined insects, rodents, flora, plants and birds, the Super/Natural dome will encourage visitors to imagine themselves subsumed in the natural world, with all its beauty, violence, decay and growth. The dome, reminiscent of a church, creates a sublime, secular sanctuary space. 

     Given Schaechter’s prolific oeuvre prior to embarking on this large project, the exhibition features additional works which share themes of natural elements, pattern and ornament. 

For more information, click here.