Jackie Mountan & Ed Hallahan Collaboration 2020

Sculpture Installation: Carved and constructed white pine, knitted with pearl cotton

From the dawn of the age of humankind men and women have filled hours, days, years, millennium in an endless pursuit to meet their basic needs of food, water and shelter. The earth upon which they walk has provided it all, for the taking, to some degree or another.

The men and women of humankind uniquely look beyond the basics of survival of the corporeal body. They look inward and beyond “now”. They question and search for answers. Answers are found, many answers are found to the same questions … as many answers as there are communities and civilizations and individuals.

“Seven Sisters” honors the search for answers. Humankind’s collective memory has always known there is more than food, shelter and water required for survival. From time beyond time they have looked UP to find answers. The stars in the heavens were ordered and named. Legends and myths surrounding them have been created to flesh out and justify the answers for questions like “why?” or “how?” or “when?”.

“Seven Sisters” is one grouping of stars that has provided inspiration for answers. This grouping of stars has myths from civilizations all over this globe of Earth. It is among the closest star clusters to Earth and can be seen with the naked eye in the night sky. It is within the Taurus (the Bull) Constellation. It is also known as “The Big Dipper” and “The Pleiades”.

It is Greek mythology that tells us of the seven daughters (“The Pleiades”) of the god Atlas and the sea nymph Pleione. Their names are Maia, Electra, Taygete, Aleyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope. When you look for them in the sky you may only see six. This is because one of the stars is quite small and quite close to another star that is a bit larger, so seems to hide it.