charles browning indices : paintings : : : a year and a day installation : the hunting of the wren video : mote art : foundry indices : news : : : sounds : pictures : words : : : the foundry C H A R L E S B R O W N I N G

This installation takes its name and essential elements from the calendar and winter solstice celebrations of the early inhabitants of Europe. The concern of A Year and A Day is the systems and symbology that people have historically used to organize the year and with the diminution over time of once potent and important ceremonies. One such ceremony is reenacted in The Hunting of the Wren video. Traditionally carried out on St. Stephen's Day (December 26th), the Wren Hunt symbolically kills the old year, as King Wren is supplanted by the Robin, who represents the new year. The video includes other images connected with this ritual: the Holly Man, Robin Hood (in a pre-Sherwood guise), and the Moon in her various phases. A Year and A Day will be presented again, this time in the Carriage House at the Islip Art Museum (50 Irish lane, East Islip, NY, 516-224-5402), from July 29 - October 1, 2000. A Year and A Day was originally presented at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania from November 26, 1999 to January 2, 2000. Further questions about this project can also be addressed to browning@foundrysite.com. Artist Charles Browning in the A Year and A Day enclosure at the Michener Art Museum, 1999.