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How Doomsday Sanctuarium came about is an interesting story.  It all started during a Don Taylor workshop at CBBAG.  If I remember correctly, it was a workshop on endbands.  This sort of workshop lends itself to a lot of bantering amongst participants – long periods of repetitive sewing can lead to that!  Somehow the conversation wound its way to the hot topic of the day: the Mayan calendar and its prediction that the world would soon be coming to an end.  Lively discussion ensued & plenty of opinions shared!

The End of the World – Exciting New Exhibit?

At lunch break Don said, “I have a great idea!  How about we create a CBBAG exhibit… call it The End of the World, and invite 50 folks to participate.  Everyone would make 51 duplicates of their entry; and when done, all participants receive the entire 50 piece collection – with one collection left for the exhibit.  Who’s in!?”  Well of course I said I was in!

So as things often go, the idea didn’t get complete traction and the exhibition eventually stalled.  I already had the mental picture of what my End of the World project would be like, and now sadly there wasn’t going to be an exhibition!  Or so I thought…

Within months of the collapse of the End of the World exhibit idea, CBBAG announced the next Art of the Book.  Ahhh… ABOB would now be the reason for me to complete my End of the World concept.  This was serendipity at its best!

The Doomsday Sanctuarium

So now you know the backstory of the Doomsday Sanctuarium.  It was a statement piece regarding the predictions that the world was going to end in December of 2012.  At the time there was a complete media frenzy on the subject.  You couldn’t turn on the radio or the tv anywhere without hearing or seeing some talking head expounding on the imminent and disastrous end of civilization based on the Mayan calendar.

As we all know now, this was complete and utter nonsense.  It was more than likely some poor Mayan in the year 300 A.D. decided that they were tired of chiseling future dates into a stone and thought to themselves, “Seriously, I have pounded two thousand calendar years into this stone, that should be more than enough for the time being!”

Why the Religious Spin?

I do attend church services, but admit freely that sometimes the sermon of the day does not always captivate.  My mind is prone to wandering.  This is exactly what happened at the time when I was working on the concept for my End of the World project.  I was sitting in the sanctuary and looking at the religious symbols around me when it came to me… this is how people will deal with the end of the world.  They will grasp onto their faith and hold tight.   And maybe if they’re concerned that their chosen religion may not be sufficient, then they may want to glom onto another!  Of course there are those who have no religious affiliation at all.  So, they are just going to arm themselves to the teeth with the survival manuals!

From there, it was simply a matter of designing a presentation that was going to speak to this idea.  I thought it should take the form of a box with little religious relics placed in their own little cubby-hole – just like an artifact box you might find in a museum of antiquities or an archeological dig.  My imagination fleshed out the story… as the end of the world approaches, people grab the relic that they think will best save them.  Or, maybe they will hoard them all!  They have options!  (Of course I could not help myself.  I also included a mini replica of the book, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”.  After all, the end of the world is indeed small stuff!! :D)

Construction Notes

For those interested, the box was constructed from graphic board and covered in red lokta paper.  The hammer mounted on the side of the box was made by fitting a small dowel with a head fashioned from Sculpey© polymer clay.  Each religious symbol was cut into a lino block and then stamped into more polymer clay.  (At the time of making the relics, I was still of the belief that the original End of the World idea was “a go” and that I needed 50 of each one.  So, I went into mass production of the little religious symbols!)  Following embossing, the clay relics were baked, antiqued, and then copper-leafed.  The miniature books were examples of perfect binding.  The interior of the box was covered with red book cloth.  Each cell was fitted with a pillow covered in red velvet – a place for each relic to rest.   Each individual element was securely sewn into each cell, and the back of the box was designed so that it would be ready for wall mounting.

The Exhibition

Doomsday Sanctuarium was not only accepted into the 2013 Art of the Book Exhibition, but it was also award winning.  What a delight!  To pass muster by a jury is one thing, but how was the piece received by the general public?   Something tells me that people liked it!