Madder Reds

Temple of the Oracle - kinetic installation

The Temple of the Oracle invites visitors to step inside another world. A full sensory experience. Light filtered through the red wool panels cast a rosy hue over everything. The slowly turning panels contrast with the central stable pedestal in a slightly disorienting way. The earthy scent of madder infuses the space. Placement of the Temple in the corner of the room, combined with the handwoven rug, and the wool panels muffle sounds from the rest of the gallery space. The carved oracle sticks feel weighty, their textures whispering to the hands, the sound of them when dropped like a clap of distant thunder. The messages they carry speak to the person who casts them in a strange yet comprehensible language.

The seven temple wall panels are each 45’ x 108” made of wool gauze, and dyed with madder root. They are attached to a suspended wooden hoop which is free to slowly turn.

Central pedestal is wrapped in madder dyed silk in glowing tangerine orange, topped with the madder red hand carved wooden oracle sticks.

The floor of the temple is a 10’ diameter round handwoven rug of 1.

Walls are painted pink with a hand rendered paint made with madder lake pigment.

Three colors on red wool, orange silk, and pink walls were rendered using three different processes, using the same roots. First dyeing the wool, reprocessing roots to dye the silk, and then reprocessing again to create the lake pigment for the paint.