(1995) February 20 – March 3  University of Utah Union Gallery, Olpin Union Building:
Sands Cycles Meditation Art Installation – Verabel Cluff, film, Maida Withers, dance

The installation provides a meditation space with a Zen quality to feature the stunning video, SANDS CYCLES, as art.  Entering the space you see a fresh lotus blossom floating in a simple black ceramic bowl next to an incense burner.  Three monitors on low platforms play continuously in front of meditation pillows, enticing the gallery visitors into an altered state.  A continuous stream of sand flowed from above into a large black ceramic bowl, lending mystery, peace and timelessness. The monitors played continuously with each monitor cued at a different starting point.  The sound is tuned for each monitor, to give a layered stereo effect.  The musical score by Alex Caldiero, based on non-music symbols, and the poem, SandS CycleS, are exhibited, lighted with amber spotlights.

SandS CycleS Film reveals a land site process of creating art with the earth and for ecology.  SandS CycleS is the fruit of two women’s quest through the desert seeking connections to the land and to kindred spirits, ancient and present.  Verabel Call Cluff on camera and Maida Withers, dancer/choreographer , discover the mysteries of change and survival.  Mysteries are discovered, poised between particle and wave, between turmoil and stability, groping towards untold beauty.  Together they discover the necessity of touching, feeling and tasting the earth.

SandS CycleS, a thirty-minute art video, shot at White Sands, New Mexico and Coral Dunes, Utah, carries the energy of the heroes journey and the human quest for spiritual growth.  Withers, as ancient wise woman in SandS CycleS, circles the dark shadow on the sand and emerges to make her journey as orphan, innocent, martyr, destroyer, caretaker, wanderer, warrior, magician, and ruler.  The viewer is drawn into the elements as the filmmaker and dancer reveal the dramatic forces of wind, sand, and sun with the moving earth, dunes.  Nature is Withers only companion.  She climbs endlessly hill upon hill bearing the burden of the rock she insists on carrying.  She tumbles in an endless slow motion roll, her naked body exposed by the capricious wind, tears shed from the cutting quartz, the shade of the thorny bush her only refuge from the Sun, her imagined flight as eagle, her jewels of weeds and root, her eventual transformation to wholeness, the divine ruler in a final dance ritual as shaman.”  Verabel Call Cluff.

Zen Monks were invited to meditate during the opening and at intermittent times during the exhibition.  Wearing black robes, their presence sets the model for meditation.  The Monks sit for 20 minutes at a time, change to a moving meditation, and assist others with meditation postures and advice.  They  mingle with the crowd drinking herb tea and eating poppy seed cookies.  The SandS CycleS installation becomes an invitation to join in meditation through art.

Photos: Verabel Call Cluff, photographer    Maida Withers, Dance, Coral Dunes, Utah

SandS CycleS
Poem by Verabel Call Cluff
Author/Videographer

Once there was
and once there was not
an ancient, wise women.

She who eats the sands.
She who knows innocence
and the falling into solitude.

Both orphan and caretaker,
She slips away, burdened,
and the falling into solitude.

Being destroyed,
she returns to wholeness
between worlds of earth and wind.

Going into the circle
to find ones self, to listen to the Ground.
But to stay inside is to perish.

Come, then, and live in the cycle.
This is to find your tracings,
your foot prints in winds of sand.

Verabel Call Cluff

The video structure, editing of SandS CycleS, is influenced by the sciences of quantum physics, chaos and by the writings on myth by Joseph Campbell, Carol S. Pearson, and Maureen Murdock on the Journey of Self.  Images of the earth spirit, the Innocent, the Martyr, the Orphan, the Caretaker, the Warrior, the Destroyer, the Magician and the Ruler come forth from Maida and a shadowy circle in the sand.

Verabel Call Cluff Philosophy:
“Art must be used not only to enliven experiences, but the most important issues of our time are best addressed through and with the arts.  Art should be part of the fiber of everyday life; not an elitist experience for the healthy and wealthy.  To experience the fruits of our artists is fundamental to a widening one’s horizons and to he involved in the creative process is vital to the growth of individual self worth.  In short, I believe the arts are a key to healing out limping society.”

For more information about the film, SandS CycleS, please visit:  https://maidadance/works/sands-cycles/

SandS CycleS:  Excerpts of video (11:35) presented by Maida Withers, dance artist, for the Amazing Earth Festival, Kanab, Utah:
MAIDA WITHERS – FILM AND CONVERSATION
Dance With The Earth:  Spirit and Spectacle
Sunday, October 4, 2020
5:00 pm (ET) or 3:00 pm (MT)

What the press is saying

"SANDS CYCLES is a poetic environmental dance-video installation, a land-site process for creating art for the earth and ecology. It is the fruit of two women questing through the desert seeking connection to the land and kindred spirits, ancient and present. Verabel Call Cluff and Maida Rust Withers, artist/performer, discover mysteries of change and survival, turmoil and stability. Alex Caldiero performs the background music and sounds and Tea Schiano did the set design for the installation currently at the Olpin Union Gallery on the University of Utah campus. The videos structure is influenced by the writings of Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey. Images of the Innocent, the Orphan, the Martyr, the Caretaker, the Warrior, the Destroyer, the Magician and the Ruler are woven into the structure. Three monitors, mounted on los, austere tables, continuously play the video. Cushions, Situated directly in frront of the monitors, await the meditative visitor, while in the rear a pedestal, situated with a bowl, catches sand dripping from the ceiling; the sand is allowed to spill onto the floor, where visitors are invited to scribble prayers. "It's all supposed to be very Zen." says DeVon Stanfield, director of the gallery. In fact, opening night the installation had three monks from the Kanzeon Zen Center of Utah participating. "They were helpful, showing people how to meditate." Stanfield says. White visiting the installation, a young man entered the gallery, walked over to a cushion, removed his shoes, seated himself cross-legged and began watching and listening to the droning music. "People come right in and sit down," says Stanfield. "I didn't think they would, but they do." While Cluff's camerawork on "Sand Cycles," is pedestrian, the dancing by Withers -- she kicks, gyrates and undulates --takes it to a higher plane. But Cluff's poem scrolled through at the introduction to the video is beautiful and a necessary part of the journey." "Once there was
and once there was not
an ancient, wise woman. She who eats the sands. She who knows the innocence and the falling into solitude. Both Orphan and Caretaker, She slips away, burdened, into journeys, seeking and fighting. Being Destroyed. She returns to wholeness betwen worlds of earth and wind. Going into the circle to find ones' self. to listen to the ground, but to stay inside is to perish. Some then and live in the cycle. This is to find your tracings, your footprints in winds of sand.
"Sands Cycles" will be a stretch for some gallery goers, but I think it's worthwhile and certainly very Zen. Dave Gagon

While Cluff's camerawork on "Sand Cycles," is pedestrian, the dancing by Withers -- she kicks, gyrates and undulates --takes it to a higher plane. But Cluff's poem scrolled through at the introduction to the video is beautiful and a necessary part of the journey." "Once there was and once there was not an ancient, wise woman. She who eats the sands. She who knows the innocence and the falling into solitude. Both Orphan and Caretaker, She slips away, burdened, into journeys, seeking and fighting. Being Destroyed. She returns to wholeness between worlds of earth and wind. Going into the circle to find ones' self. to listen to the ground, but to stay inside is to perish. Some then and live in the cycle. This is to find your tracings, your footprints in winds of sand.
"Sands Cycles" will be a stretch for some gallery goers, but I think it's worthwhile and certainly very Zen." Dave Gagon