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Alex McDermott

The Nautilus

6/25/2017

 
Today my chambered nautilus shell was placed in the kiln with a bunch of System 96 glass. I took photos of the positive in clay before I cast it in the investment. This is sort of an experiment, because I have never cast with system 96, only fused their glass- they really don't have a casting schedule for it on their website. A big thanks to Chuck Lopez for creating the schedule.


The nautilus has many symbolic meanings. As the mollusk grows, its body moves forward into the new larger chamber and produces a wall to seal off the older chambers. The empty chambers are used to regulate buoyancy. A cross-section of the shell of the Nautilus will show the cycles of its growth as a series of chambers arranged in a precise Golden Mean spiral.


For myself, the nautilus is a metaphor of spiritual growth during the transitions of life. Passing through time and the chambers or doors perception that keep us growing and changing.


Oliver Holmes wrote, in a poem entitled The Chambered Nautilus, "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul….Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"
Picture

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