Annunciation Sheds

1985  Hinesburg, VT
Tractor, storage and playhouse sheds.
Principal: Michael Wisniewski        

I have been fascinated with Annunciation paintings since I saw several in close proximity in the Uffizzi and elsewhere in Italy and realized that over several hundred years they exhibit a remarkable consistency in underlying compositional rules. The angel Gabriel brings the word to Mary in an enclosed space or courtyard.  There is always some glimpse of the natural landscape.  Most important, the architectural elements form a series of layers separating the divine from the human.  The variations on these patterns and the penetration of the divine through them are endless and thrilling.

I used this theme to create an angel for the tractor shed and storage and the virgin was to be a children's playhouse.  The project was left unfinished when I moved, but the ghost of the angel is still there.  This theme of moving through layers appears elsewhere in my work, you can see it in the Pantuhova House and the Zen Center.