The SILAS KENYON GALLERY
At The SCHOOLHOUSE CENTER

Presents

LABYRINTH OUTSIDE IN
An Offering by Tracey Primavera
May 24 – June 12

Opening Reception: Friday May 24 6-9 PM
Gallery Talk: Saturday May 25 Noon

An installation of a labyrinth on a large scale and finger labyrinths too.

“It’s not the thing that you fear…it’s the mother of the thing that you fear… It is always going to get deeper, yet. It’s always going to be harder than you think. The nourishment that comes from going in that side is going to be more precious than you could have known, but to get there is going to be more difficult than you could have known.”
~ David Whyte

Yeeehawww!!!

As in poet David Whyte’s interpretation (above) of Grendel, the green creature, and his mother in Beowulf (the original Anglo-Saxon poem written 1500 years ago) the labyrinth is a useful metaphor for many of life’s journeys. If you pay attention while you walk - how you walk - one foot, then the other- you can find out a tremendous amount about yourself. Or you can simply meet your feet for the first time.

The labyrinth draws on a spiritual practice that is thousands of years old and spans the world’s religions and cultures. One walks with intention along a path that cuts back and forth through a series of curves until one arrives at the center, pausing for a moment, then returning back along the same path and exiting at the same place of entrance. It is not certain where the tradition of labyrinth walking began, though they have been found in ancient cultures from Greece and Crete to Egypt, China, Peru, Ireland and Scandinavia.

I walked my first labyrinth at a five-day silent retreat over New Year’s Eve 1988-9 on an ashram in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Following a leader in a group of six, we walked the path and met at the center where we gathered in a circle and chanted “Om”. I began weeping uncontrollably. As in my silence I discovered an overwhelming sense of impatience and distrust. I realized that I was never in the moment with situations in my life. I was always ahead in my thoughts and actions, always running. As I walked the path out a sense of relief, possibility, and peace overcame me.

Wheeew.

Moving to Provincetown several months later and realizing one usually works on New Year’s Eve, but wanting to maintain a sort of tradition and spiritual connection, a labyrinth was created as an opportunity for healing for myself and others. With the help of my friend Gina “the gatherer”, we created labyrinths for two years on New Year’s Eve. Both were made mostly of fallen tree branches and located off Race Point Road: one on a fire road and the other on a hill overlooking the vastness of Provincetown. I had suggested that people leave something, an object, in the center to represent something they might be ready to let go of….ashes of friends and pets were sprinkled about, as well.

Now, the labyrinth has been brought to the Schoolhouse Center, the outside has come in. My intention is to offer a space that feels safe to discover - possibly rediscover -oneself, allowing one to go from the outside in. To meet and greet the green monster Grendel within, with this tool called the labyrinth.

Happy trails.

 

 

The Schoolhouse Center is located at 494 Commercial Street in Provincetown’s historic East End Gallery District. For more information or an interview with Tracey please contact Michael Carroll at 508.487.4800 X 105.

Tracey Primavera graduated from SVA with a BFA, is a licensed massage therapist trained at the Swedish Institute in NYC, is a Soto Zen student, joyfully serves yummy Mexican food at Lorraine's, and helps Gordon move things around, occasionally.