One of my favourite quotes comes from Picasso, "Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life." Art in all its many forms, whether it is poetry, sculpture, a play, a painting, or a beautifully designed building...even something as simple as a tap, has such a powerful ability to do this. For me this is what spirituality is....something that lifts me at a much deeper level and allows me to transcend the mundane. What does it mean for you?

Some of the artists who were making abstract works were on a quest to see if art could inspire a transcendental state akin to the sublime feeling that nature could inspire. Artists such as Vasily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko hoped viewers would experience a spiritual revelation, or at least a deeply meditative feeling, while gazing at abstract surfaces or forms.

As you will have seen from the previous post Max Gimblett's work does that for me...so much so that I just had to buy one....and then another.....! (Now I have to work hard to pay for them!) ...here the wee beauties are...they may not be your thing ( the buzz factor is an individual thing) but for me personally every time I look at them I feel incredible joy and serenity....I feel strongly that the essence of the artist and the joy they experience while painting oozes out of their work and thus has a powerful impact on the receiver...I have watched a video of Max painting and he giggles and laughs and looks so playful and filled with joy when he paints...now i giggle and laugh and feel playful too!

The first one is called "cast" and is signed on the back "to Cassandra with love - Max" I purchased this one on opening night when he was here in Wellington in June - part impulsive, part due to my friend saying it's so you (note the upside down U!) - I love gold, and I love squares and to me this was classic, simplicity ...I could also picture exactly where I would hang it!

The second one is "choice" I fell in love with this one when I went into the gallery to pay for the first one! I love the pacific feel, the imperfections, the colour and the name! Every time I look at it it reminds me of the power of choice! This is my daughter's favorite too and hangs in the open plan kitchen/living.

The Power of Art to Heal
I am also interested in the healing power of art....esp after visiting my cousin as she had treatment for breast cancer and watching how much life and reason to live painting gave a fellow patient.

Yet I feel strongly that the artistic realm is often undervalued by many...at school I had a talent for art..but I wasn't encouraged to follow my bliss...in fact I was actively discouraged and told I could only study "USEFUL' subjects like accounting and commerce.....looking back as I now follow my creative callings, I can see these were useful skills to have learned..but oh how many wasted journeys I have been on working and living in ways that did not nurture my soul.

This sense of waste has strengthened my commitment and passion to raise the profile of artistic pursuits as not secondary but primary catalysts to the evolution of the human condition.......


As one of my fellow artists commented recently "In regards to healing, its terribly underrated how much art can be used in therapy. We all know what a buzz we get when painting or creating and rarely can describe the feeling (Time passes in a haze etc etc) as well as the intense irritation when unable to create. I deal with IHC students.. its poetry in motion to see these people come out of their shells and express themselves in a way they can't normally...as it is for all artists...who can say its easier to express themselves verbally than they can on canvas or in sculpture etc etc??? I cant!"

So art can be a powerful way to help people communicate. In my coaching practice (www.worklifesolutions.co.nz) I use a technique called interactive drawing therapy..it's an awesome tool to help people release blocks and move forward in their lives.

Interactive Drawing Therapy (IDT) uses powerful right-brain, creative tools to supplement the traditional talking processes. It makes visible the invisible by providing visual ways of seeing the big picture, and activating and empowering clients inner power and resources to help construct and design solutions to clients problems. IDT uses jointly-constructed visual imagery to review the client’s situation,re frame their conflict, generate insight, access inner resources, and start a remarkable process of constructive decision-making. It's creative, it's dynamic and it's very, very powerful. I love working with it and my clients do too. So many of us need and carve visual solutions and tools to make life simple, and easier to navigate. (check out www.interactivedrawingtherapy.com if you are interested)


Connect with your spirit - get inspired
Some people define spirituality as 'being inspired"...this is a positive, transformational process -one capable of passing from one to many as people come into contact with the works of the inspired creator. I love this quote I came across while researching the topic of spirituality in art:

“In any art that is alive and really creative there is an exchange between the artist and the art itself. In some cases you can almost feel a physical exchange. It's a recognition of each other, of the quality in each other. It's an exchange that speaks. And you know at that moment that there is something very much alive and working at that time. I remember one of the first great paintings I had ever seen in color. It was during a visit to the Chicago art museum. They had taken a very large religious picture of the holy family or some aspect of that, and put it on the stairway because it was so big they had to have the space around it. I remember coming up to that and the exchange was so great that I just simply burst into tears. And that's the kind of exchange that something real provokes. It's an overwhelming experience, something that only tears can absorb and soothe. In any great visual experience, whether it's in nature or in art or in music or any other form in which there is a transcending experience, there's always a bursting of light. There's an enlightenment. In painting it's really a quality of light. In nature it's an overwhelming light. That is the creative experience, the inspiration that one never forgets, the mystical experience if you want to call it that.”

-Sr. Lucia Wiley, CHSet Inspired!!

when I first "experienced a Rothko" I was in Paris at the Centre Pompidou. I was immediately inspired. It wasn't a rational.."what do I like about it" reaction, but a deep, heart felt attraction...couldn't afford a real Rothko but made off with 10 postcard Rothko's...may not be your cup of tea.. but Rothko and I are soul mates! I love the simplicity and colour of his work - only wish I done it first!


"A good Rothko is always an enigma: You can sense its beauty and feel its emotion, yet both are ineffable. It is very hard to believe, for instance, that if a given lozenge were a few inches taller or shorter, it would make a blind bit of difference. Yet the beauty seems intricately calibrated. And as with the formal, so with the emotional component. We can feel "emotion" without being able to quantify it, without really being able to say whether a given Rothko is cheerful or melancholy, tragic or ecstatic.
In the Nietzschean sense, Rothko's emotionality is "beyond" happy and sad. Emotion, like form, is abstracted from the particular and taken to a transcendent place. That is putting it in rather mystical terms. An equally valid approach would be to say that, more than most modern artists, Rothko demands emotional investment from the viewer: The artist's intuitions about color and shape set up ciphers for the feeling and thought of others. Where traditional art, drawing upon shared iconography, made demands on collective knowledge of myth and fable, a Rothko appeals instead to self-knowledge."

Finding your true calling
Art can even help you get over the devastating loss of work and help people find their true identity - came across this excerpt re this very gifted artist on Page Blackie gallery website

"Israel Birch connects his early interest in art to when his father was laid off work from the Whakatu works.
He returned to carving. This was great for my dad as it was a way of healing him and our family. Since then, art has always been part of my life. I have since taken small steps and have now found myself doing a Masters in Maori art."

Keeping it simple- making it real
I came across this while researching Max Gimblett who very much is a fan of this technique (as am I ...it is so serene and beautiful...even tho you may say at first "anyone could do that" I don't believe this is so....a good stroke is a beautiful thing and requires much skill)

"The Philosophy of Sumi-e is contrast and harmony, expressing simple beauty and elegance. The Tai Chi diagram demonstrates the perfectly balanced interchange of the two dynamically opposed forces of the Universe, the dot represents integration.

Sumi-e employs these principles of nature's vitality in its design and execution. The balance and integration of these forces and the eternal interaction of Yin Yang are the ultimate goal of Sumi-e. The art of brush painting, aims to depict the spirit, rather than the semblance of the object. In creating a picture the artist must grasp the spirit of the subject. Sumi-e attempts to capture the Chi or "life spirit" of the subject, painting in the language of the spirit.

Patience is essential in brush painting. Balance, rhythm and harmony are the qualities the artist strives for by developing patience, self-discipline and concentration.

The goal of the brush painter is to use the brush with both vitality and restraint. Constantly striving to be a better person because his character and personality come through in his work.

Sumi-e is more than a technique, it is a Spiritual Journey."

I am so excited to be going along to Max's Sumi Ink Painting course in Maui, Hawaii...only ten more sleeps til I leave! Who knows where this journey will lead or what indelible stain it will wash upon my Psyche...what I do know that is that it will be magical, life affirming and so, so wonderful.....a tonic for my weary soul at this point in time.....so Picasso was right...art CAN and does wash from the soul the dust of everyday life:)

Labels: Spirituality in art