The Pathway of the Birds | Claudy Jongstra

For a glass partition between the auditorium and the family parlor, we created 'The Pathway of the Birds', an art piece referring to the Finnish myth of Linnunrata. In the partly transparent felted piece in natural yarns, our life's journey is depicted through darker trials and challenging dilemmas as we transform and grow along the way towards spiritual clarity and the golden wisdom of the eternal. 

According to the Finnish myth of Linnunrata or literally the pathway of the birds, our earthly voyage starts and ends guided by birds, as they conduct our soul to unite with our body at birth. And again when our life is completed birds carry our soul on their wings beyond the soft greenish-blue sheen of the horizon to its eternal dwelling. Through the transparent fragments in between the stronger fields of color in the art piece, the departing human soul remains in contact with their beloved on earth.

For 'The Pathway of the Birds' we have chosen for a new way of installing the fragile felted murals within glass panes. In both the auditorium and the family room of Crooswijk Cemetery the partly transparent art piece can be admired as if looking through windows to the other side. The elegant installation was developed in collaboration with Glashandel Martin de Boer, one of many excellent craftsmen in our country. We feel the installation has added to the mystery of 'The Pathway of the Birds', as the fleeting moment of our voyage seems to have been caught for eternity.

The old graveyard Crooswijk in Rotterdam was first in use as early as 1832. It is situated in a beautiful park on the river the Rotte on the former rural outskirts of the city.