Seven Generations

Installed in Forest Grove, OR in July 2024

"Seven Generations" is a physical representation of the ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroqois) philosophy that decisions we make today should provide for a sustainable world seven generations in the future. The sculpture includes 127 bronze cast bodies with each generation holding up the feet of the generation after them. In this way, we have a physical experience of that each single person seven generations from now has 126 direct ancestors in the previous 6 generations.

Contemplation questions:

1. What was going on in Forest Grove in each of the 7 past generations? In London? In Hong Kong?

2. How far back can you identify ancestors in YOUR family tree?

3. If one of the ancestors in the bottom row did NOT have a child, what would happen to the sculpture?

4. If YOU were a person on the bottom row:

About when would your descendant at the top of the sculpture be alive?

What kind of world would each generation above you live in?

Which generation above you will colonize the moon? Mars?

What are some ways you could make the world a better place for future generations?

5. What was the approximate world population in each of the past seven generations? What are projections for the world population going forward seven generations?

6. Do you think homo sapiens have fundamentally changed in the last seven generations? 20 generations? 100 generations? How do you think we will change in the next 200 years?

Artwork by Cat Tweedie, with art assistants Mira Zimmerman and Sawyer Marquis

Questions by my father, Bill Tweedie

Tree of Life

Copper, stained glass, cherry wood, plywood, paint / 51”x 51”x 3”

My artwork is often spiritual study and practice grounded in material form. I began this commissioned piece by learning about the Kabbalistic Tree of Life; this balanced pathway between the formless and the formed.

I like that embedding this meaningful structure within the Flower of Life sacred geometry highlights the feminine and demonstrates interconnectedness throughout the whole.

Teachings

Bronze / 53” x 24” x 24”

The eyes covering the robes and skin explores the teaching “to see the world as if there are eyes all over our body.” The hands are in a posture of giving and receiving so that both are in balance.

Commissioned by Amy Fox to honor the teachings and life of Thomas Huebl, author of Healing Collective Trauma.

Cloud Mountain

Copper, acrylic paint, wood / 96” x 48” x 2.5”

Color design with Ishita Sharma

Bee Hive

copper, stained glass, solder, transparency and ink / 20” x 16” x 1.5”

This piece was in collaboration with my youngest son’s Kindergarten class. Each of the 22 students carefully made scientific drawings of bees. I scaled these down and put them behind the honeycomb stained glass held in a copper structure.