The Gatherer is my version of the Great Goddess of Harvest, the Lady of Abundance. I took features for her from the Finnish goddess Osmotar who brewed the very first beer together with bees, squirrels and foxes. I was also fascinated by the nine breasts of Maaria, one of the first appearances of Virgin Mary in old Finnish stories. From that amazing source of wealth she poured food and medicines for people and animals alike.
A few years ago I made a career switch and moved from the corporate world to art. It was financially a difficult decision. I had to change from excessive monthly pay checks to small and irregular income. I’m not interested in luxury. I rather shop in flea markets than malls, and go to the forest instead of expensive travels. However, I’ve always been scared of becoming poor in such a way that I’m dependent on other people’s mercy.
The fear initiates from my childhood. I grew up in a single-mother’s household in Finland, during the great depression of the 90’s, and there was always a lack of money, and my parents continuously fought over it. Even if I know that the fear of being poor doesn’t really make sense anymore, it has impacted on my relationship with money. For me it is very difficult to spend – I always rather save ‘for a rainy day’.
Saving and being clever with money is a virtue to a certain extent, but it easily becomes an obsession or a goal in itself. All the gatherers of this world should ask from themselves how much is enough? How many storages do we need for the rainy day? And what is so scary about a rainy day?
Recently I learned about Artemis of Ephesus, who was also a goddess of harvest and depicted with her chest full of breasts. Or perhaps they are eggs. Last night I had a dream of her, and there people were born from the eggs. It made me think of my Gatherer. Every time she gives something back to flow in the circle of nature, she helps the birth of New. Energy wants to flow – also financial one.
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The Gatherer is from my art series called the Great Ladies. It was originally shadow work to recover from burnout, and turned out to be a truly magical project for me. I keep finding ancient goddesses and archetypes that resemble my ladies. There’s thirteen of them at the moment. I usually start the work by ink painting and proceed to ceramic sculptures. Casted statues and prints from the paintings are available for sale.
Good point about when gathering turns into something else – all this abundance seems out of step with the season -I protest christmas buying.! But it fascinates me that our sculpting processes were so similar – thinking it was us when all the time the goddess was coming through!!!