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Leonie Siri MacMillan

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My background in filmmaking has inspired me to create narratives for my sculptures in which science and mythology intertwine in comment to the human condition. By using the symbol of the goddess I am able to link past and present mythologies.

 

By creating these narratives, I hope to demonstrate the inherent strength of Woman combining with the preservation and restoration of the planet’s ecology.  The resulting forms embrace the physical and the metaphysical.

 

Mitherspher is a new Sea Goddess that I am in the process of creating. 

 After spending several years creating sculptures that reference Sedna, the Inuit Goddess of the Sea, I decided it was time to create a new Goddess that would incorporate the ideas that had evolved with Sedna and elements of my own ancestry from Orkney.  Inspiration comes from Selkies, FinFolk, magical disappearing Islands and Neolithic carvings.

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The name Mitherspher references the Orcadian myth The Mither Of the Sea.  Spher comes from this new Goddess’ connection with spheres such as the Moon, the Earth or air bubbles. 

 

Mitherspher is half human half cetacean, with the ability to shape-shift between the two.  She can be very large at times so that her breath can be blown into huge bubbles to help the sea mammals breathe under the water. Fin Maidens, who are tiny replicas of the Goddess , help the goddess and create a strong social circle.

Mitherspher  is extremely powerful and benevolent, and her aim is to regain an ecological balance within the world’s oceans.  

 

It is now a time when large numbers of women are wild swimming in the sea in Scotland.  The sea has become a gathering place for women - to laugh and heal.  By inventing Mitherspher, and her Fin Maidens, I am creating an analogy for all the positives and possibilities that arise from women sea swimming.

The abstracted female form with the empty circles in the head references Barbara Hepworth, with many possible meanings, one being that by leaving this space in the head, the artist has left a space that you (the spectator) can own.

 

My bronze sculptures were made by sculpting a figure in clay from which silicone and 3D printed moulds were created. Then wax replicas were formed from the moulds, which were used to make plaster cases for the molten bronze to be poured into. After some sandblasting and welding the sculptures were carefully patinated to demonstrate ocean elements. Finally each piece was given a layer of wax to seal and protect the bronze. 

The sculptures rest on a spalted beech pedestal, representing sand and ocean currents.

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