Located in the Eastern Sierras at the portal to Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental U.S., stands a 2,000 square ft. stone house. This house is now known as the Tuttle Creek Ashram, and was built by Franklin and Sarah Merrell-Wolff throughout the 1930s. The structure was to serve as a hub for transcendental philosophy, mysticism, and spirituality, as they believed that the spiritual center of a country should be at it's highest point of elevation.
The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning "breath."
My practice involved creating site-specific, short-lived sculptures that aimed to focus on my breath, while illuminating natural objects found in each biotic zone between my campsite and the Tuttle Creek Ashram. The zones included the Sagebrush Scrub Zone - 4,944 ft, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Zone - 5,500 ft, and the Lower Montane Forest Zone - 7,600 ft. In addition to the sculptures, I designed and created original flags to celebrate the diversity and personality of each biotic zone represented, as well as a flag to represent the Ashram.
found natural objects, artist’s tape, cotton, canvas
I was a resident of Cabin-Time 8. Cabin-Time is a roaming creative residency to remote places.
jackie barry copyright 2023