Karin Spitfire’s The Seven Sacred Sites/Sights: Books 5, 6 & 7: The Voice & the Head Gland – Installation Viewing

“The Voice and the Head Glands,” an art installation of three moveable sculptures—larger-than-life books—exploring the concepts of metaphysical and embodied space created by Karin Spitfire, will open May 5 at the Unitarian Universalist Sanctuary on Miller St. Belfast, Maine, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and run until Sunday May 27.
The sculptures are Press On, a book built with ironing boards; …Now Lie in It, made with WWII army cots; and The Order of the Universe, a 20-foot pop-up accordion book contained by nine-foot-tall Victorian shutters. They tackle ideas such as the mechanisms of expression, the interplay between the vast macrocosm and the infinitesimal microcosm, and the “space beyond the veils.” They are conceptually influenced by the endocrine glands; the fifth, sixth and seventh chakras; and women’s traditional work and arts.
The installation/books will be open to the public for viewing in the sanctuary every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1:00–6:00 p.m. through the month of May (except May 7). Since the sculptures are books, they are built to be opened and closed and read. To that end, several specific scheduled readings will be held during the month: at the opening, Friday May 5, at 6:00 p.m., Saturdays May 13 and 27 at 1:30 p.m., and every subsequent Friday and Sunday of May, starting on May 11, also at 1:30. During the rest of the exhibition, the books will be displayed in their open format, with a video of a reading of Press On available to play.
After the book readings on the Saturdays of May 13 and 27, Spitfire will also lead a session of experiential embodiment (movement and sound) that focuses awareness on the glands and chakras, for folks who would like to engage more fully with the installation’s intent. An American Sign Language/English interpreter will be provided on the 13th.
“The Voice and the Head Glands,” comprises the first three completed books of a seven-volume set entitled The Seven Sacred Sites/Sights, still in progress. The whole and the parts were instigated by one dream that occurred decades ago and has never faded in strength. When you experience this installation, you will understand why.
The exhibit is funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission. The photos of diatoms in …Now Lie in It were provided courtesy of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay.