Another experiment, this one based on Shaker "spirit letters," composed of writing in an unknown alphabet -- the alphabet of angels, maybe.
I wanted to get at an idea of a text writing itself in real time; I also wanted the text to be almost recognizable, which it isn't here. If I continue with this, I'd need to make it more nearly Roman alphabet-like. Right now each letter is a random collection of individual strokes.
I also thought of combining this with other shapes, so that the spirit writing is filling in particular patterns. At some point I'll try to scan in the source images I'm using.
Posted by seth at June 1, 2004 05:15 PMI really like this one. It does seem a bit Arabic, but then, the strokes are nice, I think... The Spirit Writing in the Shaker books intrigue me because of their variety. You posed the question about them being comprlsed by one person or many hands and I like the idea of variety as a stand-in for what we call The Body. The Church, for example... that one thing is comprised of parts.
I loved letting this writing fill my computer screen... does it need to go left to right? Does this become part of the tree experiments? Can it fade and fluctuate in the breeze? Can it get big and small?
Posted by: ct at June 7, 2004 10:41 AMChris - basically, yes is the answer to all those questions. Here is a version of the tree made with spirit writing (a static image, not a dynamic thing), and here, by the way, is a cherub done with text, in my own handwriting. I'm imagining using this stuff in the map project, so that it will fill specific spaces, make shapes, etc.
Posted by: seth at June 7, 2004 03:04 PM