The Great Round: Observational Analysis

Observational Responses

The overall composition of the Great Round is strikingly distinctive. Each piece has its own color palate, movement, axis relationship, and powerful metaphor. I notice a duality in each piece, some more balanced than others. Pieces are either fully contained in the circle, mostly contained, intentionally disregarded, or symbolically outside. While some are more alike than others, if any one of them was missing, the whole would feel incomplete. Together, the Great Round transcends simply the sum of its parts, it provides a visual framework for awareness to developmental universal experiences throughout our lives.

Though the stages are, by definition, neutral, the color palate in each seems to tip one way or another in many of them. Stage one seems tainted negative, but withdrawing inward into one’s self to find and consider existential questions, is still neutral. Perhaps the negative feel reflects my own difficulty with uncertainty rather than a feeling of safety. I created the Bliss stage without any acknowledgement to the circle. Uncontrolled movement and color matched the idea of uncontrolled growth and

The previous stage refers to unrestrained and uncontrolled growth. In contrast, this stage represents a single path or calling with a progression of moving forward. The growth of the individual has been focused and created the start of a journey, which may be met with excitement, anxiety, or a mix of both. Kellogg connects this stage to fetal development. The child has started on her journey to join the outside world, whether she likes it or not. The opposite relationship, or axis, for this stage is stage nine: crystallization, which represents a full bloom and wholeness of self. “Labyrinth” embodies the start of the journey toward the stage nine goal of complete self-actualization. Stage three concludes the incubatory or departure quadrant of the great