She does not seek to cast a Luddite pall over all of science. Rather, she embraces newer scientific models that express holistic themes within their theory and practice.

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Cast aluminum heads sit on the outer edges of the sand-painted pentagram, their mouths connected by steel ropes to the netting pentagram. Just as Wanenmacher re-appropriates the feminine power of the witch in identifying as one, so too does she reclaim her own goddess identification by casting the heads in a visage that is a combination of the Aztec creation goddess Tlazolteotl and her own face. Wanenmacher – creator goddess and Fool – offers forth a bold new narrative vision for the future, one which presumes an end to Cartesian duality and welcomes the integration of holistic viewpoints.

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Throughout "Grimoire", Wanenmacher's creates touchstones of the magic involved in the creative process. This process is not restricted to art-making, but includes the unfolding of one's personal cosmogonic narrative. Her work combines a range of aesthetics, forms, techniques, methods, media, and practices to infuse each piece with a vernacular that speaks contextually to every other... each piece appears in new media and via new techniques, emerging from her cauldron as another plot-point in a grand narrative drama. Wanenmacher's work is loaded with message and metaphor, but the pieces reach toward aesthetic goals of beauty, with execution on an equal par with conception. A meticulous craftsperson who fabricates every last bit of her work, from car engines to sand-paintings to forged steel knives to hot-rod paint jobs, Wanenmacher draws from a multiplicity of possible techniques instead of relying on a singular style. What brings her work together is its subject matter, with each piece adding to an overall narrative thrust that speaks to the philosophical underpinnings of a personal cosmogony that was bred in Santa Fe, but takes its cues from around the world.

We are all drawing our power from the natural world. The scientists at Los Alamos draw from the atom for the sake of destruction. The mystical traditions in which Wanenmacher finds the metaphoric touchstones to illustrate her philosophical intentions draw from nature for the sake of creation. The marked contrast between the two is simple: while western science treats nature as something outside of us, something to be tamed, the magic and ritual of the traditions from Wanenmacher draws dovetails nicely with the new science of Gaia.

Another of her pieces, "Heads, Hearts, Hands," features a wooden self-portrait of Wanenmacher standing with her hands on her hips and lightning bolts shooting out of her upper body. Encased in glass, the piece seems to make both a specimen of its creator and to place a limit on her magic, which thus far extends only in her personal realm. Perhaps "Grimoire" will lift the glass containing the power of Erika Wanenmacher and allow her magic – like that of Los Alamos and Oppenheimer – to flow beyond the Santa Fe region and throughout the world.

 

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