Decoratively Speaking
Because mirror images are so common in nature, I do suppose we find their centered-ness less adventuresome, edgy or contemporary. But, when it comes to nostalgic decor, centered and familiar is where it is at!
Many holiday ornaments like this carefully crafted piece by Kay Miller, will play off some of nature’s most common mirrored designs. In this case, both floral and snowflake designs are harkened to. Floral influence is seen in the motifs chosen and the petal-like structure of the form, but the way they are built up, in visual steps from the center outward, changing as they progress while using the same kind of shapes, is particular to the snowflake and other crystal patterns.
I couldn’t find an active page for Kay, but she does have an Etsy shop; it’s just a little empty at the moment. However, you can find a lot of her ornaments on Google images using her name and ‘ornaments’ as key words (or use the link you see here, of course.)
As a little fun side item, try to find the one single element that is not mirrored in this ornament. I don’t know if she did this on purpose, and if I had the time, I’d start combing through her designs to see if she does this with all of them. This one single discrepancy, which becomes very obvious once you find it, reminds me of a story I heard in an art history class many moons ago about a tradition in a particular tribe of American Indians. Their artisans were so adept that they could make every object with absolute perfection, but instead they would purposely make one tiny thing incorrectly, weaving one twist backwards, miss one painted dot in a series or leave one carved feather untextured. Why? Because they were not gods and believed they should not create as if they were perfect like the gods. I always thought that if I become that perfect in anything I do, I would do the same. I’m just not that perfect yet to even worry about attaining a god-like status in my work. But, it’s fun to think someone else might be doing something like that out there.
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