spiritual journeys – Sacred Vessels:

Creating Connections

The backside of a large Sycamore slab exposing a power source of Light. I love how the light “highway” terminates within translucent layers of resin. Wood-Resin-Steel & Light. 7″ x 26″ x 2″

“The studio is a place to create and time to discover things about myself. A sanctuary, a place of divine kismet.”
Larry Ortega

An abundant year of rain transforms the desert and exposes the abundance. The heat and scent of the desert glides through the wind. Days are longer-Nights are shorter. Spending more time in the outdoor studio and garden area. The back area of the studio provides the best view of Cinnabar Canyon. The jagged hills offer a stark contrast against the morning sky. The moonlight gently wraps its light over the Ocotillon Hills, as it elegantly illuminates the desert floor.

Seeking the Sacred

Our personal journeys take us to many places. At times we find ourselves along paths that are unmarked and without light to guide us. We are forced to confront fears that only darkness can produce. But we are driven to explore, it is part of our DNA as humans whether it is reaching to the stars or the depths of the ocean or… the boundaries of our imagination. We begin the journey as children: bringing natural curiosity as artists, scientist, and philosophers.
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A new series of work titled “Beneath the Darkness” reveals imaginary desert and ocean realms. Places and moments of time where light penetrates the darkness providing hope, security, and inspiration. A concealed LED light illuminates the cast resin layers in the cross-like shape and radiates a light within the steel and plexiglass base.

superphoto_creation_2017-02-23_042311-nice — “Seeking the Sacred”

I had a sense of creating something sacred, perhaps a holy vessel, something that can produce a sense of peace and maybe miraculous healing. My own faith says that is possible. Some say that prayer is talking to God and meditation is listening to God. I hope the piece becomes that beacon providing the light into a voyage to a sacred harbor.
Two in a series: Resin-Steel & Light 19″x 11″x4″ See at the Ice House
First Friday April 7th 2017.

www.stor-ybox.com

Cubes and Terraforms

As the seasons change, I am transitioning into the hot summer days and nights. My spring work included some of my largest pieces including “Lost Memories” a 7′ casting into the live edge of a Sycamore slab.

Late spring and going into the summer has me working on a series of cast resin cubes. I have describe some of my pieces as “terraforms” …worlds within worlds and “other worldly”. I see vast desert and ocean wilderness areas that have been part of my entire life. Dry clouds over a horizon, light dancing off the morning water and a millions stars illuminating the night sky.

The desert has played a pivotal role throughout history including the flight of a group of immigrants redeemed from slavery and promised a” land” of milk and honey. A visible sign of an invisible God is seen in the distance.The column penetrates layers of clouds lighting the sky for all to see and never leaving them-strengthening the promise made long ago. Exodus 13:20-22

Set on lighted platforms or as a stand alone piece in a garden window and sills. The cubes absorb light energy and exchange it as luminescence, eerie illumination produced. StoryBox-creations as An Obliq Artist

Holy & Healing

A lost memory recaptured on recent trips to Taos, NM and Barcelona, Spain. A spiritual journey began with visits to churches and basilicas in Barcelona, Spain. Sagrada Famila is famous worldwide a church that has been under construction for over a 100 years and complete by 2025…they hope.

Mission church Chimayo, outside of Taos is one of the best examples of an early Spanish Colonial mission. In this case, it is a “healing” place, like Sedona, AZ and other healing places in the southwest. Chimayo mission is the site of physical and mental healings, some say miracles. We often mistake problems that require a spiritual solution-not a financial one.

Inside mission Chimayo are 2 separate rooms-in one, crutches hang on every wall, a testament of physical healing. From this room, you enter another room-low slung and no bigger than 10’x10′-central to this room is the small well in the middle of the floor of this room filled with the “healing” dirt from the land. Visitors are encouraged to take some of the dirt…Sandra did.

My traditional view is that church buildings were built to inspire us to focus on God. Spires, stained glass windows, and items on the altar were created to depict religious themes and to point our lives away from the earthly realm and focus on a heavenly realm.

A limited series of work, I created with my favorite mixed media-Wood-Resin-Steel & Light and bringing into existence my own version of a “monstrance”.My vessels display something holy-fragments and I choose the land, sky, water and an unseen world. There is a place where beings in the Rio Grande gorge ascend seeking a light from a wooden shard hovering above them and containing the healing power of the land. Light emitted from the piece breaks the darkness surrounding it. I think of the opportunity to spend moments of meditation during this period of light… a time of prayer and being thankful for all that God has created.

“Myopia”…Art Detour

A “show” was just a passing thought one late winter night among unfinished pieces in my new studio space. My new work needed to be shown; Obliq Art had not put on a show in 16 months. I thought of all the good times we had and miss so many of the artists and collectors and just friends who made Obliq Art a regular stop on First Friday…and that thought was sown into the universe that night. “The right people will show up”. “The right space will show up”. Sometimes you have to walk in faith.

My work was about restoration of wood and about adding a different dimension to wood. Clear and colorized resins were pour into termite caused borings. Phosphorescent resins casts were added as well as casts with pearlescent powders. Lost Memories was created this past winter. A termite infested, crooked, twisted and weathered Sycamore slab that spent much time in the Arizona desert sun. A perfect piece to restore and reclaim. Another thought…Lives are like that.

Pete Deise and I have become friends over the last year. He reminds me of the surfer who first surfed Mavericks alone for years-a lonely pioneer living a pioneers life. I’m infatuated with his new work and personally I want to see his work integrated in some of the downtown buildings and projects I am involved with, like the Jackson Street Properties I selling. And I love helping him show his pieces. Its a little different installing and showing his pieces.

Justin Queal and I have been hanging about a couple of years. Our first time showing together. We have had some lunches and times together talking about art. Again another artist that I admire and getting to know him and his lovely artist wife, Abbey. Its a rich life when you have relationships like this. Flourish comes to mind when I think of Justin’s future.

Cheryl's totems Facebook — Cheryl Brandon

Constance McBride and Cheryl Brandon have been in my consciousness for a while, especially Constance whom I first met at Obliq Art at the Arizona Center. Met Cheryl at the Fred Tieken’s Az 45 show in his gallery in Paradise Valley. Two very distinct ceramic artists with a wonderful following. Great contrast to the large pieces.

Someone asked me, “When are your shows”? I guess the short answer is “When I want”. Look forward to seeing how Obliq Art evolves. The Myopia show has allowed me and the other artist to experiment in the space.

The show opens again on Third Friday, March 18 at 7 pm and from noon to 5 PM on Saturday. Lots of parking behind the space as well as street and park parking.

New City Studio- 1300 N. Central Ave-across the street from the main Library and adjacent to Margaret Hance Park.

“Ancient Memories…Refuge”

I saw the deep borings in the wooden slab of White Oak and began exploring the notion of “refuge”. Something was attracted to live within this part of the tree, something sought refuge and existence in this fortress, I could see the microcosm when looking closely. At the same time, the pattern in the wood and its DNA reminded me of desert landscapes from the southwest; the vast areas of wilderness.

I began to create layers of air and sky by casting resin layers, relying on lost memories of desert sunsets above a remote beach. There were memories of clouds in the early morning and light at the golden evening hour. The various translucent layers, some with pearlecent and phosphorescent powders mixed with resin, emit an “other world” atmosphere. Immersed within the sky are spherical planets that, provide an “other” world dreamlike hallucination .

“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle” says Walt Whitman and I wanted to create and capture these moments.

The work “Refuge” is cocooned in light; a light created with LED lighting that I call the great light and phosphorescent light, the lesser light. The lesser light is “charged” by the LED light and continues to radiate “stored” energy as “light” long into the darkness.

Light provides healing according to popular studies. Light is an element and theme in my work while I explore the idea of the spiritual powers of healing and light. Healing became an influence in my work while researching and understanding healing. Embedded in all my recent work is earth from mission Chimayo outside Taos, New Mexico. Chimayo has been called “a place of healing”, http://taospueblo.com/ . I saw thousands of prayers posted as photos, hundreds of crutches hung on a wall and realized this too was a place of refuge. Many prayers are answered but many times it is not “God get me out of this” rather God get me through this. The more I meditate in prayer, the more I know that healing is much about surrendering.

There is something special about the wilderness-the quiet and solitude, marveling at the beauty created by God. It is a spiritual experience for me. The same with creating art, a spiritual discipline for me, much like prayer.

I often think of the quote;

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The process of creating this piece allowed me to reveal the mysterious realms of native folklore and culture. In this piece, the elements of sky, fire, earth and air are my way of capturing the essence of God. God is in the very nature of each element.

“Ancient Memories”…Refuge” 65″ x 20″ x 2″ White Oak, cast resin layers, LED lighting. I had many ideas, wishes and fantasies creating this piece of refuge and prayer.

www.stor-ybox.com AnObliqArtist

“Transparent Memories”

The “act” of layering, weaving and assembling is a new process in my latest work. Working on new pieces that have a theme of “healing”, where I encounter memories of drowning in my life. At the same time, wondering about the roots of the sea in my life far from an ocean in the desert. This piece seems to make connections and connect dots of memory. There is a sense and emotion of surrender. Healing takes place in the act of surrender…surrendering to healing. “Ancient Memories are…in the Cloud” outlines two whales who once lived in the shallow seas of Arizona during the Triassic period. The outline of a Sperm whale encases the entire piece while the ghost like image of a Humpback whale emerges from what at first looks like a mountain range. The whale’s dorsal fin provides a sense of movement flowing through that primitive sea.

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop”. Rumi

I sense the DNA of trees, rocks and eons of time and the drop from the ocean contains the entire memory of a distant and primitive time.

Like the rings of a tree, the translucent layers relate to time, and a distant space of land, sky and sea the one that has been evolving over millions of years. Ancient translucent seas with turquoise seas, and cloudy summer vistas hover over a desert wilderness.

I know I have been here before…but its only an ancient memory now.

http://www.stor-ybox.com

“Ancient Memories are…in the Cloud”

Whale Shot Bench WEB 8-7 — Progress shot

Beyond but beneath the obvious, a story emerges from a cutting of alligator juniper, a lifeless slab of wood “beached” in my studio for over a year. I often looked at this piece of wood, imagining a design that never took place. Something else had to be released and it was an image created millions of years ago and now being revealed through the DNA of the wood and the mind and hands of a artists craftsman.

The whale has been released from its captivity, the DNA of eons of memories and layers of times ancient forests and a shallow sea filled with life. My imagination took over, remembering the times spotting whales against the backdrop of an expansive and seemingly empty sea, many times framed by the dramatic horizontal image where sky meets ocean. The composition of the piece with its long horizontal lines reminds me of the vast wilderness places; secluded mountains and beaches, the heat of the summer and the solitude the wilderness provides.I have had intimate moments with this creature in the wilderness and that was my direction and approach.

Whale Iris Blur Close — First 3 resin layers

I feel as if I am “hovering” over the scene, exploring what might be here, looking for waves, or fish. I realize I have flown over these coves, physically and meta physically. Maybe there is a connection for this piece of Arizona wood and the desert landscape. I think of the past life of this tree, musing over the DNA, perhaps dating back to the Jurassic period, when great whales and fish inhabited a large inland and shallow sea that once was here in Arizona.

I cast the 67″ horizontal edge, vertically, allowing me to create layers of sky from my imagination. Distant green lights the color of an aurora borealis, contrast with the brilliant reds of sunsets and twilight times. The clear cast layers and multiple “spheres” describe a place of planets and distant stars. Thin blue and white layers reflect an ancient ocean where it meets an ancient land.

More musings to come as I continue to create the story of this piece.

62″x24″x3″ Alligator Juniper, cast resin layers.

http://www.stor-ybox.com

http://web.photodex.com/embed/9bd2a2x4?autoplay=true

“A Refuge”

“A Refuge” is nearing finished, which is a magic moment for me and many artist I know.Some type of small animal sought refuge in this piece of White Oak. The refuge was carved out by some type of bug, and the hollow became large enough to provide sanctuary to some type of bird.

A mixed media work incorporating resins, colored with opalescent and pearlecent earth powders. Resins mixed with phosphorescent powders and cast in layers to produce an internal illumination when charged with ordinary light and super charged with UV lighting. Illumination is a key element of the work and each piece takes on a different look when viewed in a darkened setting. The translucent layers glow in the spot lights from underneath. The elemental themes of Earth, Water, Air and Fire are present… but there is an emphasis on the “fifth” element; the element which describes matter beyond the material world. An invisible realm in existence before existence began.

I’m inspired by the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico, connected to the cycles of life and the seasons. I am exploring the panorama of desert skies, the interaction of light at sunset, sunrise and twilight. At times I see water-less clouds teasing a parched land, or violent storm clouds bringing ranging floods. Desert sunsets are a gift and one that I experience from my studio every day.

Water is a renewing element, water cleanses and brings new life and it is very precious in the desert. And yet, I keep returning to the sea and as I explored this piece of White Oak, I could feel the edge of the wood and imagine a beautiful wave cresting and breaking on some imaginary beach I’ve created in my mind. I imagine beautiful things in heaven and I am exploring beautiful things on earth. I’m reminded how blessed I am.

More art work on my website http://www.stor-ybox.com