Mouthfuls of Sky gives Lipscomb a taste of the infinite

Today, students walking into Beaman Library to study might find themselves swallowed up by a universe of stars.

M. Kobe Ling’s Mouthfuls of Sky opened in the John C. Hutcheson Gallery last night. The exhibit, hosted in collaboration with Lipscomb’s visual arts department, spans the length of the glass-paneled room. A walkway allows viewers to see Kobe’s creation from all angles. 

Liza Clement, a professor of visual arts at Lipscomb, was part of the team that brought Mouthfuls of Sky to Nashville.

“I was thrilled to have M do our first show of the year,” Clement said. “When it comes to some of the ideas and subject matter that our students are thinking about, I think a lot of what M’s work brings to the table is about storytelling and the transformative nature of materials.”

Clement took part in the installation process, which included laying dozens of small, foil-wrapped, marble-studded squares of red cedar down on the floor to represent the night sky. “We had to wear kneepads,” Clement recalled with a smile.

Kobe sourced the wood locally, reflecting the intentionality with which the artist chooses her materials.

“She really has a beautiful way of thinking about materiality and the ways in which we imbue meaning into materials,” said Clement. The professor pointed out one of her favorite features of the exhibit, called “Somewhere where well wishes are held.” Kobe covered a piece of deadwood with pennies she found heads up, symbolizing luck.

Mouthfuls of Sky creates new beauty from materials found in nature, such as coyote fur and turtle shell. Many natural items were studded with marbles, representing the stars that inspired the artist.

Kobe said she was afraid of the dark, but amazed by the vastness of the night sky. She wanted to use this creation to explore her relationship with something so infinite.

“I can’t understand the stars in their entirety; they’re way too big. But I can understand my relationship to it,” Kobe said.“I know what it feels like to take in air, and if I know what it feels like to take in air, maybe I can take in the sky and know it in that way too. So I thought, one mouthful is kind of digestible.”

Each square of cedar in Kobe’s exhibit was unique: selected, wrapped, covered, and hammered according to its own pattern. The result is a dazzling grid of sky beneath viewers’ feet.

Kobe worked outside in her backyard in East Tennessee for months on this piece. She says the project became a community, and neighbors often would visit her while she was working and bring her gifts that she included in the final exhibition: turtle shells, strangely shaped logs, and even the coyote hide.

For visual art students at Lipscomb, Kobe’s work is an inspiration – and a challenge.

“I think it’s paramount for our students to understand the rigor, the dedication, and the time that it takes to create a body of work like this,” Clement said. The visual arts professor hopes Mouthfuls of Sky will open her students up to new possibilities of creation.

The artist hopes her work will inspire viewers to consider their own relationship with the infinite.

“I want viewers to be displaced by the work, and to know that even as we feel like we’re beginning to understand it with the little glimpses and glimmers of what we can hold on to, that it just keeps getting bigger. And that’s the beauty of it.”

The John C. Hutcheson Gallery will host Mouthfuls of Sky until October 4th.

Feature image of M. Kobe Ling sharing her work with a visitor by Arlie Akers.