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The Labyrinth of Being

Design explorations, teaching and creativity We know what we know by virtue of where we have been, and what we recall of that pathway. As designers and creatives, everything comes from journey. It’s where we’ve been and where we’re going. There are symbols that are...

Where are you going, where have you been?

The journey out, and the journey back; looking forward to where you’ve been. I was rowing, and as I pull ahead, off the beach and into the choppy slipstream of the salted sea channel, out to the open oceans, I saw that I was rowing away from where I had been,...

The ring

The metaphor of the Rod, the Ring, the Line, the Circle. I think symbolically: when I try to find the answer to a problem, I draw it out. And for me, it’s that: “drawing it out.” Like a string, a line, a movement. A dance. The idea of a stroke having...

The flow of Flowers

Drawing People [in] with Flowers, the Flow of Story in the Craft of Rendering Ideas In my beginnings, I drew flowers — and sold them as art pieces and gifts; then, at Christmas, I did groupings of flowers, silkscreened and signed in limited editions of...

The Symbolism of the Axe

Brand, story, object and ritual. The art of the axe, chopping wood, arranging wood, starting fires, it holds a string of stories for many. Being in Portland, a proverbial city of the Axe, has built a culture around the axe. The axe is a splitting adze, a blade that...

POWERPOLE

L E A D E R S H I P M A G N E T I S M In the modeling of a group of people, there is invariably a “power pole.” Working with people, I look for that energized place of energy. Who’s there? In the clustering of people, there is the layering of the...

KNOTWORK

(Girvin) Himalayan mountain protective talisman THE TALISMANIC STRING Coming into the office in Seattle, on one wall there is a string of talismans; they’re arranged — as a threading, running from the front of the office, the opening door, to the entry...

THE METAPHOR OF THE LIGHTHOUSE

Exploring symbolic design strategies in the making of place: experiencing deeper meaning in architecture The granary, the watchtower, the guiding light — metaphors of transition for 2010>2011 Over 40 years of working as a designer, I’ve been thinking about...

The Symbolism of the X

What lies beneath: the nature of the x, the cross road, the crossing guard, the mark of the x and the magic of the nexus. Girvin imagery | screen or site shot from handheld The symbolic allegory of the x mark. When I was in Bali, I was surprised by the...