GaZuut Sculpture
BY HANK TUSINSKI
“The feeling/thought manifests the word,
The word manifests as the action,
The action develops into a habit,
And the habit into character.
So, watch the feeling/thoughts and it’s ways with care
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all Beings
As the shadow follows the body,
As we feel/think so we become.”
—from the Dhamapada
“GAZUUT” was just one of the many wonderful and inspirational things that PJ offered in the all-day workshop she gave to Odaiko Sonora a year or so ago, but for me is seemed to be the bedrock that supported the rest, a threshold to another landscape of being. She described how it came about, the urge and need to give ‘it’ form, an idea/sound seed germinating.... what was conveyed was the breath of potential opening to become fully present.
“As a sculptor, it seemed only obvious to translate her arabesques into metal…”
Then, as though the words had reached their limit, she began to dance/ draw the letters in the air : the gigantic spiral of the G circling and dwarfing her, the pregnant belly of the A, the sky horizontal above and the earth horizontal below of the Z, the rocking ocean of the UU, followed by the crashing wave of the T, all of it filling the space and beyond!
As a sculptor, it seemed only obvious to translate her arabesques into metal to being into being what I had just witnessed, bringing the intangible spirit into matter. I did a few drawings and made a few paper cutouts, then welded this small model about 10 x 20 inches. However, what I am still imagining is something much larger, more like playground furniture that you could sit on and move around in. Perhaps the A and UU’s could be a swing........ where you could rest and feel at home.
By Artist, Hank Tusinski (written in monsoon pounding rain, in haste on an August afternoon).
Thank you card by Hank Tusinski to PJ Hirabayashi following workshop with Odaiko Sonora.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
HANK TUSINSKI is currently living off-the-grid in the Mule Mountains in southeastern Arizona near the Mexican border. For over twenty years his artwork has focused on the Mexican celebrations of Dia de los Muertos throughout Mexico (and indeed around the world). He is a long time Zen student and has illustrated a trilogy of Tao books by William Martin, ‘The Sage’s Tao Te Ching’ just republished in celebration of its twentieth anniversary.
