Behind The Concrete Curtain

The Power of Collaboration

As promised at the birth of The Ruins Substack, some bits of thinking are reserved for those of you who have become that unicorn hiding behind a medieval tapestry, the paid subscriber.

Somehow, I got to be fifty before I was introduced to the idea of The Venn Diagram.

I’m not sure if I should blame the public school system or my own inability to focus on simple math study tools. Either way, I am making up for lost time.

I adore the simplicity of two circles interacting with each other.

You are not simply seeing two circles. You are seeing a passing through. Two things that are not separate but have become something else entirely through symmetry.

Two shapes, talking to each other. Two ideas, becoming a bigger idea through common ground. Note that venns can also be three circles, which can be even more fun.

Most venns have words inside of each circle and other words inside that special place where they overlap. I call that special area the liminal space.

It’s a fuzzy space where the regular rules are thrown out the window and unexpected things happen. Remember this part.

Venns are often built for comedy. They can be very effective in the world of the meme. See below for one of my favorites.

Cat as liminal space

Venns are powerful communicators, especially when they surprise you. They help you see relationships in a new way. And they make for endless fun.

But venns are not just for words. They are perfect for mosaic.

The pieces of things, organized in particular ways are a fascinating way to build a venn. I created a course at Mosaic Arts Online called The Intuitive Venn that helps you see mosaic material in ways that can help you solve problems with your hands and your head and your heart.

A Land and Sea Venn with the beach as the liminal space

There are no limits to the creativity inherent in the venn compositions.

During the year that I was building The Intuitive Venn course, I realized that I was living amidst a giant venn.

The Ruins Project itself is the most important venn composition of them all.

Long dead coal miners and contemporary artists, meeting in the liminal space of The Ruins. Two kinds of people who, on the surface, don’t seem to have anything in common. But when placed together, they create an energy that is hard to define. A passing through to a space that is something else entirely.

This is where the collaboration part of the story becomes important. As I have explained so many times, The Ruins is too big for me to build on my own. Unless I want to become like Raymond Isidore of Maison Picassiette and obsessively cover my whole world with tesserae as a solo project, I need help.

Deb Englebaugh has been collaborating with The Ruins from the very beginning. Linda Rosenbloom joined her a few years later, and together, we have created a local, on the ground team of three. The clock, the compass rose, the flag, the tiny rings, and The Patch House Project Quilts. Deb and Linda help me break down big ideas and transform them into physical images.

Linda Rosenbloom, Deb Englebaugh, and Rachel Sager

We chew on ideas, often for years, until they are ready for tesserae and mortar. Collaborations like this are heady, butterfly-in-the-belly experiences. I have waited over a year to unveil the first images of The Ruins Venn.

I thought today was a perfect day for it, as Deb and Linda are arriving in a few short hours to install the first important squares of the artist circle of this giant composition that will utterly transform one of the biggest walls at The Ruins.

The Artist side is a giant color wheel made up of many small squares of smalti

Deb has designed this composition in a way that all three of us have been able to build it, sometimes together, sometimes far apart in our respective studios. Lots of math and complex thinking! Not my forte.

Deb’s pretty feet area always included for scale

I asked Deb to design the most wonderful color wheel in the world.

This is her eloquent answer.

A true collaboration, filled with roadblocks, fun, and real-life relationship building

Today, we will be installing the first of these squares of color, which will set the composition into motion onto its wall.

I want to write more, but I have to go cart the Laticrete and tools and water across the bridge for our beautiful day with The Ruins Venn.

You know there is more to be revealed. I am certain that you are wondering what the coal miner circle and the liminal space will look like. I cannot wait to show you.

But I need to be patient, so you need to be patient too.

The Hammer Portal

Thank you for being here, as The Ruins continues to unearth its optimism.

Rachel