On the Cover

On the cover: Mother Descent, by Day Schildkret of Morning Altars

By Staff

I am devoted to the pursuit of impermanent beauty and how that can become nourishment for life to continue.

As an artist, my eye is often drawn toward the fallen and my hands yearn to resurrect and redeem that which is considered valueless. This has evolved into a daily ritual of foraging local objects that the wild world has discarded to the earth — feathers, leaves, flowers, bones — and how, just for a moment, the resurgence of these objects, colors and textures, shapes into a collaboration of proximity can bring forth new forms of beauty and memory.

The practice of building my art is a practice of obeying the place and time I am in. Every object I use is discovered in or around the place I build it. Every altar I create is informed and governed by forces larger than me: the sun, the wind, the rain, the traveling creatures, the season, the unexpected and unpredictable. It is an honest dialogue between the human and non-human world and an ever-changing conversation with moving pieces.

In today’s overly virtual landscape, I want my viewers to be enchanted by each altar’s capacity to awaken their imagination, their awe, their nuanced eye and deep love and connection with the magic and mystery of our earth. I long to have my audiences linger on that ephemeral edge where death and rebirth bring forth an ancient remembering and a new impermanent beauty.

Day Schildkret of Morning Altar’s website www.morningaltars.com

@morningaltars on Instagram / Facebook

This article was originally published on May 2, 2020.