“Living gracefully requires us to understand that modern society separates not only art from life, but life from death, and all three from meaning. It is up to us to connect them…” Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, David Maybury-Lewis
—–
My goals and aspirations as an artist are to express the universal themes of order, harmony, growth, beauty and transcendence that under gird the art most pre-conversion religious and spiritual traditions.
These traditions frequently employed symbols, which often served as a “shorthand” way of communicating truths and teachings—the use of color, the placement, shapes, order and quantity of any given combination of objects, artifacts and ingredients was always intentional, and always meaningful. I am continually amazed to find these themes among pre-conversion European, American Indian, and African cultures, and I draw upon all of these themes in my work.
In these traditions, along with the essential purpose of contributing beauty to life, art served as a medium to connect with, and acknowledge the existence of consciousness on “both sides of the veil”. Art is the medium to explain and communicate timeless spiritual values important for living.
I believe my role, as an artist, is to help make the invisible visible in the life of “modern” individuals and the community as a whole. I seek to acknowledge and honor these universal, and ancient teachings of connectedness and meaning, keep tradition, and declare their relevance in and for our very modern, yet often, barren, lives. In doing so, I believe these teachings—as well as those who held them– stay alive and remain with us to do as they have always done—help us be aware of our connection to the Invisible, and to one another; nourish and sustain us, give meaning to our individual and collective journeys, and enable us to heal and help “all our relations”.
I believe that it is difficult for activism with no basis in spirituality, roots, and that is not informed by the wisdom and guidance of its heritage has the potential to be misguided, unable to heal and transform at all levels of one’s being: intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.