JOHN MAGNAN STUDIO
Thin Places
We are drawn to places that beguile and inspire, sedate and stir, places where we loosen our death grip on life, and can breathe again. These destinations have a name: Thin Places. (Eric Weiner, NYT, March 9,2012)
These sculptures were inspired by the client's love for the land and waterways viewed from their home. It is their place of inspiration and oneness with nature. It connects them with memories and emotions, with lives lived and being lived, with the land's history and their place within it. It is their thin place.
Essential to the owner's connection is their intimate relationship and visual experiences with the surrounding nature and wildlife. Through our many discussions we recognized that the blue heron, loggerhead turtle and red fox form a special link between past and present, so I used each animal as inspiration for art that visually and symbolically bridges the inside of the home to the outside world
Blue Heron
Blue heron can sometimes be seen settled along the shore. They might stand a long time, frozen and motionless, before suddenly lifting into flight in an effortless and breathtaking display of power and grace. The sculpture above the mantel captures that magic as the heron conquers the ever-present Buzzards Bay wind. The pose and placement of the art deliberately point the eye away from the wall, through the glass doors, and out towards the harbor beyond, to the heron's home.
Loggerhead Turtle
While on their annual migrations to northern waters, some of these incredible and ancient creatures will visit Buzzards Bay. They are a visual wonder, while also an important part of the Native American creation story of “Turtle Island.” In that lore, indigenous people thought of the earth as the back of an ever-growing giant turtle. The gracefully turning and diving turtle sculpture honors the sea life we see around us today. Its patterned shell recalls Turtle Island, honoring the land the Wampanoag visited to refresh themselves in the cooling summer bay breeze.
Red Fox
Unlike the heron and turtle, who are mostly seasonal visitors, the fox is a permanent resident. Seen roaming the surrounding area year-round, they are graceful neighbors living in shared occupancy of these lands and woods. The sculpture captures a moment in the travels of a scouting fox as it comes to a stop upon the branch of a fallen tree. Always attentive, it stands erect and still, as if a guardian, captured by something of interest off in the distance.
