Synkroniciti is thrilled to welcome sculptor (and poet) Lynden Cline, currently based in the Los Angeles area. Violations of the human spirit are never forgotten won our cover art contest and we are so honored to have this splendid and resonant image as the face of “Identity.” This work suggests the bold resilience of the survivor, a strapless steel dress standing tall. In the center of this figure, who reads feminine because of the curves of hips and bosom, is a square hole, inhabited by a single, lit, red candle. A narrow ladder leads from this chamber to the ground. Behind the figure is a collection of steel squares dotted with red wax. These squares pay homage to incidents of violation and abuse, while the burning candle intimates a history of pain producing both torment and creative energy, continually burning, providing light and heat. There is much to unpack here. You can see more of Violations of the human spirit are never forgotten inside the issue, alongside one of Lynden’s poems. We are also pleased to include two more sculptures, Bloodline and Bloodline II. Both sculptures involve bowls on stands, filled with redness that imitates blood. The first feels very solitary, very lonely and exposed, while the second feels as if it is guarded by jutting rods. The abstraction allows the viewer to supply details from their experience while encountering the work, creating a personal and cathartic event.
Bloodline and Bloodline II were inspired by a simple pen and ink drawing I made years before. A small bowl with a string inside. The string weaves its way out and ends…abruptly. My bloodline, attached to nothing. Me, attached to no one. At the point when I made both pieces, I had no knowledge of my biological family, having been unceremoniously “dropped off ” as a newborn.
Experience Lynden’s expressive, provocative art in Synkroniciti’s “Identity” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Primarily a sculptor, Lynden Cline has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions in Washington DC, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. She left a marketing career with Fortune 100 companies to make art 20 years ago. She served as President of the Washington Sculptors Group and taught at the Corcoran College of Art & Design. She developed Creativity Grows On Trees (But Trees Need Strong Roots) providing strategies, tools and fundamentals allowing artists, writers and others to get in touch (or keep in touch) with what it takes to be creative. In 2020 she started Artists As Activists, a non-profit organization whose mission is to distribute provocative art about important social issues. “With Our Eyes Open We Can Change the World.”