Description
Medium: Buff stone ware clay, multiple glazes, gold luster acrylics and wax finish
accompanied by self standing acrylic ‘write up ‘
about 8″ x 8″ x 25″ tall
Passage through the red sea
– the name means ‘bitter sea’ and indeed the bitterness of life she knew intimately.
I was struck with the fact that there are at least three distinct aspects to Miriam.
I have chosen the middle one, the charismatic leader, the one that leads hundreds of thousands of Israelite women through the parting Red sea, to be represented in this sculpture.
As a young woman…she played a pivotal role in the Exodus from Egypt, some say as impressive as the role of Moses. This would come to haunt her as time went on.
Miriam and her brothers were divinely selected to be the leaders of the Israelites in the journey to freedom.
“I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage, and I sent before you: Moses, Aaron and Miriam.” (Micah 6:4).
“Then the prophetess Miriam, sister of Aaron, took up a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing, while Miriam chanted to them…” (Exodus: Chapter 15).
She was formidable and charismatic, a prophetess, poetess, dancer, musician and leader. Despite her dark fate, her potent spirit leads and inspires us still. Miriam personifies women’s liberation. Much like the salt in a bitter sea, Miriam’s tale both stings and heals.
…so what was that bitterness in her later life? Well- Leprosy for one…
Numbers chapter 12. Is a most interesting reading, I recommend it
