Sculpture in the Valley 2022 “Between Two Worlds” at Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk. IP17 3EF.
The Maiden or Ana – face cast in Jesmonite and painted with acrylics..
The Mother or Babh – the eyes are clear glass marbles….
The Crone or Macha – bark from a nearby fallen birch tree cut, glued and stitched to frame the face.
Meg submitted an idea for the Waveney & Blyth Arts Sculpture Trail earlier this year on the theme of “Between Two Worlds”. An unusual three-trunked birch tree on the hillside above Potton Hall, caught her eye and she started working on the idea of the three goddesses of pre-Christian northern Europe.
Sketch of stone carving in Bath Museum.
Variously known in the Atlantic Isles as the Norns, the Weird Sisters, or the Morrigan, they are fertility goddesses, depicting three stages of a woman’s life; the Crone (Macha), the Mother (Babh), and the Maiden (Ana).
Three-trunked birch tree at Potton Hall.
The birch tree was also revered as one of the eight chieftain trees. Meg decided to combine the idea of three goddesses with her theme of tree spirits – between two worlds of human and spirit, earth and sky, linked by the tree. The three faces are loosely based on Meg’s grandaughter, daughter and herself, as representing 3 ages of woman.
The new pieces refer to the classical myth of Leto and her children. Raped by the god Zeus in the shape of a swan, Leto becomes pregnant and lays an egg.
Artemis
Apollo