The mythical journey is a never ending exploration of human experience.  It plunges ever more deeply into the mysteriousness and strangeness of life and living.  It is never complete because it is in pursuit of that which can never be fully grasped or understood.  Its objective does not stay still, but is constantly moving and changing; and it is only partially available to the conscious mind.  The human mind cannot complete such a journey, but it can enter into it, respond to it, and form symbolic associations with it. Through dreams and imaginings the human Soul or Psyche can cross boundaries – explore the depths or the edges of meaning.   It can engage with dreams and visions and inquire into elusive meanings through the creative imagination - the way of the Arts.

Bill Jeffrey’s sculptures take on the forms of many symbolic associations with this mysterious journey of the imagination and the soul through time and space.  There is the human figure; there is the boat and the fish; there is that ancient symbol of wisdom, the serpent; and there are abstract shapes and marks such as the cross, the triangle and the crescent.

The human figure is sometimes standing still, as in Focus the moment – measured life, and sometimes absorbed in a struggle, as in Thoughts fed by strange hands.  Human nature contains and combines the human condition in all its characteristics and complexities - conscious and unconscious, masculine and feminine, origins and goals.  Frequently these characteristics are in a state of tension with one another, but occasionally they can achieve a type of harmony, a stasis a ‘negative capability’ – they can remain still and just accept the mystery.  In doing this the human mind can become what Jung called ‘the second creator of the universe’.

Focus the moment – measured life records such an experience.  Four figures stand side by side in a boat.  They are perfectly still, and the boat is also at rest. The meaning is serious, but the feet extend through the bottom of the boat, giving a sense of playfulness.  The boat is, like most of Jeffrey’s boats, a type of canoe or kayak, capable of going backwards or forwards, but the figures are facing neither of these directions! Thoughts fed by strange hands, and One task – before the circle is complete are typical of those works that show the struggle which frequently precedes feelings of stability.  In these works the human figure is twisted and contorted, even tearing itself apart, as if trying to maintain a difficult pose or to find a more comfortable position.

A boat symbolises the earth floating on the primordial waters, or a journey across the sea of life. There is a choice – or sails never stretch shows both the tension and the harmony of such a journey, the struggle and the stasis (that is the choice).  Two figures stand in a boat facing in opposite directions. They share a journey, but they are straining against each other, and the two parts of the sail billow in opposite directions.  This would seem to negate their energies, but instead they are held in perfect, symmetrical balance by the mast in its manifestation as the “axis mundi” or the great, Hermetic chain. The mast is the vertical axis, the sails are horizontal, and the two together speak of harmony and stability, a oneness of matter and spirit.  Above the mast are circular and crescent shapes, suggesting that the vertical, or masculine, shape of the mast is balanced by the feminine.

Space for individuality – remove the obstacle has a similar meaning.  Here a single figure in the shape of a cross or an ankh stands balanced in the centre of a boat which takes on a fish shape.  There is a stillness but also a suggestion of an upward movement evoking the idea of resurrection. A similar message is conveyed by the twisted snake-like forms in Crossroads – twist the balance. The serpent is an ancient symbol of wisdom, and two snakes twisted around a staff forms the caduceus of Mercury, the messenger of the gods.  This is a powerful symbol indicating tension between the opposing forces of duality, ultimately united as the upper and lower realms come together.  The spiritual circle draws the material cross upwards towards its own transcendent reality. In a touch of Surrealism the twisting forms here can also be seen as the arms or legs of the figures reclining in the boat.  The transcendence therefore also brings together the human and the spiritual.

The fish shape is more clearly defined in Holding a moment – made meaningful by ritual.  The fish can represent the human soul, or the world of spirit.  It is associated with the idea of the soul undertaking a journey because of the way in which fish can swim both downwards into the depths and upwards again.  Such movements suggest the Hermetic idea of spirit coming downwards and matter rising upwards until they come together.  The human figure holds a solid shape above its head, perhaps as an offering.  The idea here is that involvement in such ritualistic activities is one way of bringing about stability and harmony.

Intended pleasure -moving before you shows a fish mounted on a boat.  Bringing the boat and the fish together in this way is extremely indicative of a spiritual journey.   The boat floats on the waters, the ship of life travels over the sea of life. Again, there is a surreal aspect as the fish is much larger than the boat.  The spiritual form, the fish, seems to be in control of the material or the earthly realm.  This is the form of the journey which brings together conscious and unconscious, origins and goals.

Abstract works such as Unborn feelings – soundless passage of life seem to represent such a journey in its purest form.  This work consists of two intersecting triangles almost enclosed by an upward reaching crescent.  The three sides of a triangle can be seen as representing the threefold nature of the universe; heaven, earth and humanity; or body, soul and spirit.  When triangles overlap with one pointing upwards and one downwards they symbolise a union of above and below, or spirit and matter.  They are here not of equal size, but the fact that the upward facing triangle is a solid shape establishes a harmonious relationship with the downward triangle which is larger, but open.  This is further reinforced by the fact that the crescent moon symbolises the heavenly realm.  When the crescent is almost circular, there is also a reference to the womb. There is definitely a balance here between matter and spirit, the heavens and the earth

Finally, the idea of a passage through time and space seems to be encapsulated by the image of a man breaking through a wall in Unintentional consequences – soundlessly demolish.  A wall is usually seen as a threshold.  To break through it is to pass from an outer, worldly space into an inner more spiritual space.  It is to forge a passage from the profane to the sacred or from this world to the next.  The wall can also suggest a return to the earthly realm following such a transcendent experience.

Bill Jeffrey makes no secret of the fact that he has been on a journey for most of his eighty years.  He looks back on his space between then and now with wit and wisdom, with playfulness and pathos.  He is well aware that such a passage can never be completed.  He has, however, attained some wonderfully enlightening experiences which he shares through these uplifting and delightful sculptures.