Intuitive Energy Artist

Jewish Blessings

I'm feeling lazy today which is a quandary for a self employed artist. What kind of feeling lazy am I? Am I feeling lazy to avoid something I was going to do at the studio? Am I feeling lazy because I'm tired and need a break? Is it the weather? Chipmunks? What?

As you may have guessed, I got myself dressed (in a lazy fashion of course) and came to the studio. I couldn't answer why I felt lazy so I'm assuming it's a passing thing and not the need for 'me' time. Why does it even matter? Because if you're entering into creativity full time, you need to understand your creative cycles and what they mean. Otherwise you could push yourself in ways that are unproductive or ignore some meaningful bit of insight that can inform your next masterpiece. Being an intuitive artist isn't just about creating intuitive work but being intuitive about yourself and your own life - in a sense, walking the talk.

So, what's an intuitive artist - or as my friends tell me to say - an intuitive energy artist? Got about 20 years for me to outline it all? Julia Watkins is a good example of an intuitive energy artist. Roberta Tresslar is another. I want to say, all types of creative endeavors are a process of engaging an unlimited consciousness and bringing out in a way that communicates it to another person. The difference between an energy or intuitive artist and, for want of a better word, regular artist is that an energy artist doesn't tap that resource in a passive way but in a deliberate purposeful way, becomes in a sense 'hollow' to that energy and lets it become through them into whatever medium they're exploring or proficient with. Frequently, you'll hear an energy artist talk about meditations or journeys they experienced in order to bring those energies forward and what they learned about themselves by being a part of the process. An artist will generally have a story for every piece they've chosen to create but an energy artist will have the life lessons that pass through their lives as they are creating the piece and further, what the piece experiences after it's creation. In short, being an energy artist, for me, is bringing some form of healing into the world in a visual way that people can meditate with and use to heal themselves at their own pace and in their own way. I create tools for healing that happen to look like art. I haven't marketed it that way for many reasons that I guess I've outgrown now. Some people will think it's weird or pseudoscience and I acknowledge that. I suppose that judgement was what I've been afraid of for many years. But I've experienced enough now having an open studio, and people who didn't even know because I didn't tell them - tell ME that I was creating healing work or tell me how a piece has affected them and now, I don't worry about it too much. The ratio of those who think I'm odd is small compared to the ones who know and support what I do and the pieces don't usually call out for them anyway.

I also will often talk about the journey of a piece. I'll tell you all the story of the piece above titled Jewish Blessings. I'm not Jewish, lets get that out right away. But I have a deep respect for the faith and was drawn to learn more. It's part of a larger series I called the Blessing Series.I did extensive research and interviewed some people of the Jewish faith before I even attempted it. And actually, recalling now that the idea came while I was researching the history to the Tree Of Life for another series. I found that the menorah was a symbol of the tree of life and then I learned that the Hanukkah wasn't the menorah. That it served a different purpose. I was intrigued. I wanted to create a piece that reflected both because the more I learned about it the more central to their faith it felt. Keep in mind, this is an outsiders view. a Few months of research can't replace the deep experience of a lifetime of faith. So feeling around everything I'd learned, a vision of what I eventually painted came into view. The piece can be hung either way depending on the season and in both cases, the Chai symbol will be upright when turned. I even ordered the tzitzit to knot for the corners of the piece but didn't learn the prayers to knot them properly so I didn't include them. After talking with several of the faith, the consensus was that if I ever did want to include them, check with a Rabbi. 

I was very happy with the piece when it was finished and the reception I received from people about it. I took it to a gallery in Fredricksberg for a showing. It was in a group of pieces but under a particularly heavy one and for whatever reason, the larger piece fell taking Jewish Blessings with it. The entire stretcher frame was damaged and there was a significant hole in the Hanukkah. Everyone was apologetic. It was a complete accident and while I was bummed, I believe in the journey of a piece. Given the faith this was created for and all that faith has been through, it felt significant that the piece had experienced  a trauma so, I sat with it that way for many months. I don't remember how long though, waiting for it to tell me what it wanted. At first I thought, hey, I'll mount it on a mirror and that way when you look through the wound you'll see yourself. That seemed cool but it didn't resonate in me as what it needed. Then I thought well, I could repair it so you didn't even know but that didn't seem right to cover up it's experience. Finally it told me to repair and re-stretch it but don't paint the damaged area. Leave it as is, symbolically saying that throughout life, we will be wounded and once we are, we'll never be the same. That's not the point. It's how we move forward from our wounds that determines who we are and who we are yet to become. And that's how the piece still hangs in my studio today. It's a powerful lesson I've taken into my own life and pass on when someone shows interest in the piece. If I'd not allowed for the journey of that piece, if instead I fussed and got upset or even trashed it as a damaged piece - I would've missed a lesson very valuable to me and very touching to those of the faith that I tell it to. And maybe now you. That, and more is what being an intuitive energy artist means.  

You can have those experiences anytime in your life. All it takes is opening to them but for many, that's too high a price to pay. The journey of their wounds is more valuable and with them they lash out at others to create more. I used to try to save people like that because I was in a sense trying to save and understand myself. Now, I leave them to what they value unless they ask me a question. Then I'll share what I value and let them make of that what they will. 

 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' Gandhi.