Zodiac

An Exploration into the Language of Form, Gesture and Colour

From ancient times, people had knowledge of the zodiac’s intimate involvement in the creation of physical life. They understood that the twelve realms of constellations of fixed stars in the sky emanated specific forces that were brought to life and movement by the planets. These spiritual energies created and formed all living beings on earth – including, of course, the human being. This traditional awareness has been reenlivened and given new meaning in our time through Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy. Steiner gave specific indications involving twelve individual gestures and colours that depict the forces of the twelve zodiacal regions.

In this richly-illustrated collation of original artistic research – which features exciting new work on the zodiac via the mediums of sculpture, graphics and painting – these new insights are explored and illumined in twenty-seven essays and numerous full-colour images. Led by editor Gertraud Goodwin, the various contributing artists offer a rich tableau of authentic, individual approaches to understanding the zodiac, throwing light on the vast realm of creative forces around us whilst acknowledging their primary source.

‘From the many relationships to other qualities, like the consonants, virtues, areas of the human body, colours, eurythmy gestures, elements (earth, water, air, fire), musical keys and many more, in which the zodiacal forces express themselves as if through different instruments, a harmony begins to emerge, which informs me of an ever rounder picture of one particular force of the Zodiac.’ – Gertraud Goodwin

GERTRAUD GOODWIN was born in Germany in 1951. In her first career she worked as an operating theatre nurse at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. Her sculpture training at the Alanus-Kunsthochschule near Bonn (1976–1979) was followed by a training for sculpture therapy. Gertraud moved to England in 1982 where she taught at the Tobias School of Art in East Grinstead and at Emerson College, Forest Row, as well as working with graphics. In 1987 she started to teach sculpture and graphics in her own studio, www.sculpturestudioshoathlyhill.com Gertraud has exhibited in galleries in London, Brighton, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, and is the editor of Metamorphosis, Journeys Through Transformation of Form (2016). 12 November 2019; 200pp; 21 x 29.5 cm; pb.