Sacred Partners 2014 UNE Solo Exhibition

On Saturday October 4th, I set up 16 environmental statement pieces at Campus Center on the UNE Campus in Biddeford Maine. I want to thank Diane Noble for giving me the chance to work on an idea I have had for a long time. Although working a full time job, living a full life and painting do not always mesh, this opportunity gave me the push I needed to step forward on my ideas.

During the set up there were many people coming and going. The images generated a lot of comments. I especially enjoyed the children's exploration of the work as they seemed very intrigued by the message. I was so thrilled to share my thoughts about the work with kids and listen to what they thought, for it is them who will be inheriting what ever we have left of this place we all share. It is my hope that they get to witness a global enlightenment that moves in the direction of balance and reverence for the natural world.

After creating "Stranded at Sea" it was difficult to figure out how I was going to proceed, that painting became and, still is so dear to me. It took me most of the summer to distill what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I pulled off 14 more paintings in less than a month and I have the research and imagery for many more. There are 16 all together. Sixteen environmental explorations and a desire to keep going.

I learned many lessons while working on these paintings. Some of them are really kind of supernatural. My sketchbook is full of uncanny connections and happenings that I encountered along the way. The biggest outcome of this work is figuring out how to move beyond my first and favorite painting - "Stranded at Sea" - it is that painting that I envisioned first and, it was so different that is held me captive for a long time. Now, I am captivated by the possibilities.

UNE PR Write Up Click Here 

Flickr "Sacred Partners" Photo Album Click Here

Face Book Event Posting "Sacred Partners" Click Here

"Basic Human Rights"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Birch Panels

"Sacred Partners" Progress

Getting to a place with enough imagery for this series has taken a lot of time. I am now at the stage where I feel confidant to begin support building.  Building up the surfaces can take as much time as the actual application of color. Here are two supports now in progress. All this preliminary work is documented in my sketchbook as notes and thumbnails. These are only bases and not even close to complete. More to come.

Sacred Partners Update, August 15 2014

 Short post on my progress.

 

Painting is easy. Deciding what to paint - not so easy. I use my sketchbook to record ideas and practice concepts. Below is what I have so far - cryptic I know. 

What you are seeing is a thought process. I do so love landscapes but they are not really what I want to say.

My goal is for 20 works in all.

 

Sacred Partners 2014

Sacred Partners

July 18th 2014

Progress has been slow but what I have is satisfying. I seem to have hit an information overload wall. There are so many images, ideas and bits of information in regards to environmental issues all crowding my mind in not enough order to make visual. 

Each time I find a source, book or speaker that resonates it leads me to five more! 

Just when I feel I am starting to see some imagery through the cloud 

a breeze comes along and stirs up the fog in my mind.

 Feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of what is transpiring I struggle with the feeling of hopelessness - but then I find somebody like Charles Eisenstein speak and feel a little sense of order and purpose. The fog settles a bit. I add more books to my list and move a few steps forward. Charles Eisenstein "The Ascent of Humanity" George Monbiot "Ferel"

Not complete but closer.

 

 

Well - off to try and make my way through the fog of my thoughts.

"Sacred Partners" July 2014

"Sacred Partners"

Environmental Statement Series

First stage: Create the Support

2014 "Sacred Partners"
Honoring Environmental Beacons

Having a full time job makes it very difficult to keep up with a blog. I have considered taking it down....but then I look at some of the things that I have posted and decide to plug away - even the gaps record.

I am putting together a body of work on a subject I think about a lot. Our natural world and how we are connected to it. I am forever drawn to the idea of connection and how we fit in.

 

Sketchbook detail.

"Mobius Water Infinity"

I love painting landscapes and I am very attracted to any stunning geographic area but, doing landscape after landscape at times feels incomplete, as if I am only recording one small portion of something that holds a deeper message. It gnaws at me that there is more than a static vision. I want to create imagery that helps people appreciate our world and reconnects us to our place of origin. I want to slice open the numbness we have all come to understand as living and help reveal a more clear understanding of our connection to our planet. Not because it is the modern thing to do but because it is the joyful and fully alive thing to do. Not because I care more for the animal world than I do the human world but because we ARE the animal world. If we cannot correct our path of destruction of our home then we have no hope of creating better human life. In my mind they go hand in hand and, mother earth, as in the beginning comes first. A diverse planet is a healthy planet where all the parts are players in a constant battle of balance. We are now at a point where we have reached a critical mass big enough to tip that balance. My question - Is our collective mass intelligent enough to tip it in the right, corrective direction or will our numbness of life push it over the edge and foolishly bring us right along with it? I often contemplate how ironic it would be if the burning of too much fossil fuel will have us become fossils as well. 

Sketchbook Detail - Nanuk

Sketchbook Detail

It feels to me as if we are in critical time, at a crossroads. I want to believe that we are going to see some sort of light and make the better choice, to change habits that make life better for every living thing. We are part of a natural system that has worked well without us for eternity. I want to raise awareness. To help people reconnect to what we seem to have lost touch with.

Helplessness equals hopelessness and I am not hopeless. I can help spread the word, grow food, support local farmers and vendors, consume less, understand the impact of what I buy, show honor and have respect for what we have been provided. There are people all over the globe who are starting to stand up for better ways, better ideas, a better planet and a better - sustainable way of life. I want to add my voice. But most of all, I wish to record my reverence and respect for our struggling planet. I wish to honor my connection. I wish to love what I came from. I wish to embrace that connection. I wish to live a fully alive life.

Sketchbook Detail

Sketchbook Detail

As I wrote this post I realized that "Icon" is not really the right word to match my intent - "Beacon" - fits much better. 

This imagery will represent the "Beacon System" that is in play. 

My work will offer prayers that we see the light. 

Our collective future depends on it.

Sketchbook explorations. 

"Stranded at Sea" 

24 x 60 Acrylic, Mediums and Silk on Birch Panel
The smaller bear painting at the top is a birch panel superimposed
on to the larger panel. The fabric is actual silk, suspended
over the smaller panel like a floating shroud.

Sketchbook explorations.

The notes on the right are about icons, beacons and beacon networks, mobius symbols, infinity, monoliths, illumination, polaris, alpha and omega, and, mana.

"Sacred Partners" - Nanuk

12 x 14 Acrylics, Mediums, Paper Clay on Birch Panel
This work is a birch panel floating within another panel, moat like. The moon phases and bear are both relief made of paper clay and acrylic. All the surfaces are highly textural.

Sketchbook explorations.

The notes are lists of of possible imagery and issues in regards to the listed subject. Right now I am exploring the challenges facing the honey bee. The model to the left are possible parts as I work. My overarching goal is to create imagery that has a certain spiritual expression. Something deeper than the individual parts.

More to come.

 

2013

Vacation next week. I am so looking forward to being able to get into the studio. This school year has been so fast paced it has been hard to carve out some creative time. I have been doing some work in my sketchbook trying to get some environmental ideas to gel into some imagery. I have a direction that I am pretty happy with so that's exciting. I will be posting some rough sketches next week.

It is unfortunate that my adult Acrylics class did not run this winter due to a lack of adequate information distribution. Live and learn. I hope anyone who is interested will be looking for it next fall. I am thinking about running a summer class for CEU credits too. More to come on that later.

One more day and a night collecting student artwork at the Portland Museum of art. Love February break. Here is the work of my student that I will be sending this year.



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