Alum Spotlight: Debra Tyler to Display 50-Foot 'Earth Scripture' Scroll

Debra Tyler, who graduated in 2015 with a Master of Arts focusing in Spirituality, has created an intricate 50-foot scroll that will be displayed in full at the Lake Carmel Arts Center from Sept. 29-Oct. 8.

The scroll, which is adorned with calligraphy, block and leaf prints, represents the changing seasons of the Northern Hemisphere.” It will be part of the “Arts on the Lake 2018 Fall Exhibition” at the arts center in Kent Lakes, NY. Call 845-228-2685 for more information.

Tyler describes the project this way:

“The scroll is the culmination of three years work inspired by my studies at Hartford Seminary. It includes references to eight seasonal Neo-Pagan festivals, weekly Jewish and Christian scripture readings in Hebrew and NT Greek, monthly hexagrams of the I Ching, and eight seasonally related passages from the Qur’an in Arabic.

“It lists seasonal changes of the natural world in Cornwall, CT, and in Jerusalem, as well as illustrating the changes through prints of sugar maple trees for Cornwall and olive trees for Jerusalem.

“It also portrays signs of the zodiac, phases of the moon, high and low tides, solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days.

“A line running through the middle of the entire length of the scroll represents the core of the earth, our universal heart: “Mitakuye Oyasin” – borrowing from Lakota prayer, “All Are Related.”

“Copies of the scroll will be hung on the inside and out of a 16 ft diameter circular yurt lattice. Inside the space, the original will rest partially opened on a reading platform. Viewers are encouraged to walk counterclockwise outside the lattice circle to “read” the up-side Christian, Pagan, Zodiac, and New England seasons as they flow from left to right. Inside the circle, Jewish, Muslim, I Ching hexagrams, and Jerusalem seasons will flow from right to left, also “reading” counterclockwise.”