THE EDEN CONTRACT

"Rayner's art works are spiritual maps that force the viewer to transcend the human plane. Myth maker, storyteller, her art is imbued with the potent power of truth."
Stuart Reid, Curator Mississauga Museum of Art

The art works were conceived during years of research and time spent with some of the finest minds in science, theology and philosophy. These art works are unlike any you have seen before. Like Ariadne's thread, we follow the theme of science and religion through works very different from each other, yet all hauntingly beautiful and so bright with original thought and metaphor, they are like the miner's lamp in a maze.

These art works have already proven their ability to walk between worlds...from Vatican symposium to a millennial conference in South Africa of the world's great cosmologists, from Stanford's Center for Advanced Studies, to high school outreach programs. The art works bring a new voice to the science/religion dialogue in a soulful symbiosis that transcends cultural and generational bias to engage and provide timeless levels of reality.

ANGEL DANCING ON A HEAD OF A PIN

Dimensions: H 10 ft x L 4 ft x 2.5 ft

Detail cross and artillery shell

Broken egg with wishbone inside head of cross

Broken egg with wishbone inside head of cross

Vertebra and raven wings on needle

Vertebra and wings

Detail glass chambered needle

Vertebra and wings

Dimensions: H 10 ft x L 4 ft x 2.5 ft

Detail cross and artillery shell

Broken egg with wishbone inside head of cross

Broken egg with wishbone inside head of cross

Vertebra and raven wings on needle

COMPONENTS

Black pulpit

Rough welded cross

Etched artillery shell

Eggs

Wishbone

Large glass needle

A vertebra

Raven wings

THE ODYSSEY

COMPONENTS

Ink stained paper

Woven boat

Intaglio map

Personal ads

Charcoal Drawing: H 8' x W 4' (H 244 cm x 122 cm)

Charcoal Drawing: H 8' x W 4' (H 244 cm x 122 cm)

RORSCHACH

Rorschach: Carpenter's spirit level, laser transfer reproduction of 1/2 of The Shroud of Turin. H 13' x W 6' 9" (396 cm x 122 cm)

Ink Rorschach blots

Behind the shroud, is a CD with Da Vinci's "Man of Perfect Proportions" (The Vitruvian man) engraved on it

Rorschach: Carpenter's spirit level, laser transfer reproduction of 1/2 of The Shroud of Turin. H 13' x W 6' 9" (396 cm x 122 cm)

Ink Rorschach blots

Behind the shroud, is a CD with Da Vinci's "Man of Perfect Proportions" (The Vitruvian man) engraved on it

SOLAR BOAT

Solar Boat - H 183 cm x W 30 cm D 15 cm

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Lecture in China using Solar Boat

Solar Boat - H 183 cm x W 30 cm D 15 cm

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THE LIBRARY

The Library: H 244 cm x W top 154 cm. x W bottom 91 cm (Trapezoid)

Books bound in black suede leather, inset on cover of Alpha Centauri with holograms and acrylic brushstroke. Dimensions of each book H 42 cm. x W 30 cm

Handmade paper (pages shot through with silk), holograms, photographs, ink and DNA sequencing gels

Last page of the last book Beethoven's Ode to Joy, written on DNA sequencing gels

The Library: H 244 cm x W top 154 cm. x W bottom 91 cm (Trapezoid)

Books bound in black suede leather, inset on cover of Alpha Centauri with holograms and acrylic brushstroke. Dimensions of each book H 42 cm. x W 30 cm

Handmade paper (pages shot through with silk), holograms, photographs, ink and DNA sequencing gels

The large trapezoid piece does not photographed well, in a museum it is meant to be strafed by a light from above only...the work has interference colors mixed into the pigments so it becomes almost three dimensional with it’s own light.

The public is able walk up to it, kneel down on the black cushion and leaf thru the four books on the bench. The books also have light reflective holograms and interference pigments on the covers. Within the books are many different mediums but the main one is DNA sequencing gels from the Human Genome Project. The trapezoid of the "Library" looms over you both height wise and because the base is against the wall while the top is angled 13" from the wall.

"The Angel Book" is a three-dimensional book at the top of the stairs of the trapezoid. It is a book with illustrations and writing on all pages but the black pages. They are blank. Because the Angel Book opens in a perfect half circle you are not able to see within it.

Except for the lighting and curators gloves for the public this is an easy piece to set up but not to place in the room...it really needs a small room of it’s own to enhance the feeling of a entering a shrine..

This work came from my time with the scientist/geneticists working on the Human Genome Project. The DNA sequencing gels come from that project.

COMPONENTS

Trapezoid:

H 244 cm x W 100 cm (4 feet) at base and 200 cm (6 feet) at top

gesso sculpted image, interference color, etching inks, hand made book

(The Angel Book)

Bench:

L 125 cm x H 53 cm

oak stained with etching inks

symbol of the Trinity carved out at each end of bench

Books:

There are four different books each one is 18 " x 10"

Covers:

Black suede , stamp of labyrinth and letters of DNA code on spine in sterling silver

inset on covers: photo of galaxy toward Alpha Centauri with luminous brush stroke overlay

edges of inset cover image, DNA gels and hologram

Book guts:

black endpapers stamped with sterling silver labyrinth of DNA letters

cream handmade paper with silk strands, DNA sequencing gels incorporated with holograms, diagrams, drawings, photos, DNA coding and (writing hidden in the codes), handwritten in archival ink are quotes from Jorge L. Borges The Library of Babel. Each book is unique ...as laid out in the story.

ARK TO ARK