Gallery: Metamorphosis of Fear: an Exploration

by Elizabeth Lombardi

In this twenty-foot installation of five illuminated windows of translucent paper, a holding structure of black and white (above) describes how an individual perceives the dynamics of his or her surroundings:

In the first two sections, turbulent, threatening darkness descends from above, culminating in total darkness.

After fear is confronted, the darkness contracts to become an area of moving, but not threatening ground. The light, which appears below in the beginning, does not support the figure while in a state of fearfulness but provides illumination in the upper areas of the last two panels.

The five illuminated, colored windows describe the inner condition of the individual as she or he passes from anxiety and fear to equanimity and gratitude.

Each person who observes the different stages may have different words to express them. To allow this freedom, the labels and smaller, hand-written thoughts of the artist are, in the installation, covered, but may be optionally lifted.

Note that the thoughts related to the third window are continued by the thoughts on the fourth window.

This work was originally created for an August, 2011 conference hosted by Free Columbia at the Basilica Industria, Hudson, NY. Invited exhibitors used a variety of media to express the theme of The Metamorphosis of Fear.

The theme itself is related to an unfinished project originally initiated by the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in 1918 in collaboration with musician Jan Stuten aimed toward developing a new moving, colored “light-playart” as a humanly performed alternative to cinema.

Subsequent installations of this work occurred at the New Marlborough, Massachusetts Meeting House Gallery in 2011, and the SteinerBooks Research Seminar, Great Barrington, MA, August, 2012.

Artist Background: Elizabeth L. Lombardi

A long time art teacher in Waldorf Schools in Long Island, NY, Princeton, NJ, and presently Great Barrington, MA, Elizabeth Lombardi has also taught watercolor at Trenton State and Mercer County Community Colleges, NJ, as well as adult classes in Princeton, NJ. She was the artist-in-residence at the Arts Council of Princeton for many years.

Her own studies included Oberlin College, Ohio; The Arts Students’ League, New York City; Kunst Academie, Vienna, Austria; and Oskar Kokoshka Schule des Sehens, Salzburg, Austria; as well as further studies of the figure with Jacques Fabert in Buckingham, PA.

Elizabeth’s work has garnered awards both regionally and nationally. She has exhibited in several New Jersey museums including the New Jersey State Museum and the Montclair Museum. She is a past president of the Garden State Watercolor Society and an elected member of the New Jersey Watercolor Society.

Since moving full time to New Marlborough, MA in 2004, she has been active on the Gallery Committee of the New Marlborough Meeting House. She maintains a studio in her home at which she paints commissioned portraits and other works. SteinerBooks published her children’s book, Jonathan’s Journey, in 2012.