One Hundred And Eight Dancing Ladies

This sculpture consists of 108 dancing ladies, 59 of which are finished, the rest to be completed in next year's firing. I love the idea that the parts to this piece, like us, may be spread far and wide, in time and space, but are all connected and dancing, a part of the celebration!

The snow was falling as we stood in the temple grounds in the mountain village of Koya-san watching and listening to the monk ring the bell 108 times, an annual ritual for hundreds of years to cleanse the spirit and welcome in the new year.

This distant memory from 35 years ago, of that special time in my life when I was an apprentice in pottery up in the mountains of Wakayama, Japan, circles back to me in this magical number, 108.