Candy Coated

In the radiant California sun, Candy Coated, while sipping tea and gazing at the golden landscape, was captivated by the tiny sparkles dancing around in her peripheral vision. A dewy spider web, adorned with jewel-like water droplets at each intersection, reflected the environment and encapsulated the interconnectedness of all things.

Enlightened by this vision of infinite interconnectedness, Candy Coated drew inspiration from the ancient Buddhist metaphor, "Indra’s Web," which describes a network of pearls in the Heaven of Indra, where each pearl reflects all others. Weaving together historical hand-made decorative arts and contemporary inspirations from her experiences as an Artist in Residence in Philadelphia, California, China, and Ohio, Candy Coated created the multi-media installation titled "Interwebbing."

"Interwebbing" combines ceramics, fabric, pattern, print, vibrant color, and reflective surfaces in dynamic installations that harmoniously reflect the inter-relatedness of all dimensions and things. Vinyl stickers of hearts, gemstones, waterdrops, flourishes, butterflies, and hand mudra symbols adorn mirrors and large format digital prints, featuring California landscapes, studio settings, and porcelain flowers from her Blanc de Chine Artist Residency in China.

The process began in February 2020, with large pastel drawings on newsprint created in Candy Coated's live/meditate/make space above the large Buddha sculpture in the Zendo at Green Gulch Zen Center, Green Dragon Temple in Northern California. Candy Coated, a resident pursuing the next level of her formal spiritual practice, brought together images from past experiences, physically and mentally reflecting on growth, nature, place, metaphysics/alchemy, compassion, and the human experience in these challenging times.