BRUISED GODDESS VIRTUAL SHOW
An online look at my May 16, 17 exhibition in my yurt in Oregon.
The Yurt
Situated on 80 acres, 35 miles from Portland, Oregon, my yurt art studio sits in a magical forest.
Without this forest, the Bruised Goddess Show would've been just a shadow of its full self. The earth surrounds, supports and honors the art , as the art honors the trees.
Take my hand and walk with me down this magical path to infinite creative possibility.
The Path
The path to the yurt is like a shamanic journey to me, a pathway to another reality. As I walk from the house 350 feet into the woods toward the yurt, my consciousness shifts. I do not take the trek lightly. If I have clients or too many errands -- too much noise from the normal world -- I won't allow myself to go to the yurt. The transition is too rough. I need to be in the right framework. Over time, I shifted the pressures of the normal world so I would have at least four days of seven when I could spend time in the world of Spirit.
On this path, I have families of deer, bobcats, mountain lions, bear, and an ant hill the size of a small car. We all belong here.
Walk with me. Let your mind release the normal world. Let yourself shift into creativity and magic and potential.
The Altars
Sculptures line the path. A tree blew down in a snow storm, and we gave it purpose, by sawing it into stands for the sculptures.
We come across Earth Altar, Air, Fire, Water, Ether -- each created using parts of the earth.
The forest was logged a few years ago, without awareness or consciousness of what was being done to this community of trees, plants, and animals. These altars, partially made from the aftereffects of this logging, are my sacred act of gratitude to the elements.
I joined a sculpture class nine months prior to the show to create these, my first real foray into found object sculpture.
Earth Altar
Honoring this beautiful piece of land I've had the honor to shepherd for the past 10 years, Earth Altar also acknowledges the stress of recent wildfires and logging.
Air Altar
Honoring the gentle breezes; Air Altar also acknowledges the windstorms of worsening climate change.
Fire Altar
Fir Altar bows to the fire of our creative spirits, and the spark of spirit throughout the plant and animal world.
Honoring the warmth of a firepit; it also acknowledges escalating wildfires throughout the region, the state, and the world..
Water Altar
Based on the holy Ganges River, Water Altar acknowledges the magic of water, and cries against water pollution worldwide.
Ether Altar
Spirit enters the top of this altar as the color blue, flows through us, and prisms out of us in a rainbow of creativity.
It is only our minds (red) that tangle us up.
Ether Altar honors our pure connection to spirit, and bemoans all of the "normal-world static" that interferes with that connection.
The Show
We near the end of the path and come to the yurt. As we enter, we're faced with 16 paintings.
A teacher of mine saw the show and suggested I call it "Bruised Goddesses at Play". I love this as it's true that there is a lot of joy in this show. That is part of the transmutation process.
How did this show come about?
I dislike the pathos of the online coaching industry, where coaches are smiling, happy people. "Look at me", they say. "Be like me."
No and no!
I don't want their fake fancy lives. I want creativity and soul.
I don't want to live in a world of perfection where we try to be like someone else. I want to see the unique edges, the quirky grief, the brokenness.
To grow, we have to acknowledge our bruising, and in so doing we transmute it.
The Art
One year prior to the Bruised Goddess Show, I found myself in the yurt, feverish with a spiritual download.
I had no plans to create "Bruised Goddesses" but the mixed media artwork poured from my hands over a four-month period.
With titles like "Listen" and "Hunger", they spoke not only to my journey to creative fulfilment as a woman in this broken world, but the universal journey of all women.
The pieces that emerged virtually painted themselves. I just let my hands be used by the Creator.
The final pieces -- "Hear No Evil," "Speak No Evil," "See No Evil"-- speak to how we're asked to fall asleep and dream a life of deep denial.
To honor all that Mother Earth goes through, I used sticks, cones, branches, and flowers to make marks on paper for the mixed media pieces.
"Speak No Evil," for example, reflects a wildfire evacuation here in 2020, and the flames are marked with the very branches that were threatened.
Prices
All art is for sale. Email me if you're interested.
Works on paper
Originals 18"x24"
$676
Giclee Prints 16"x20"
$111
Prints 8"x10"
$45
Works on canvas
"No Evil" series, three paintings on canvas
30"x40"
$4,442
Ride the Chaos
Acrylic on canvas
20"x50"
$1,876
ART as ACTIVISM
.With all of my art and in my novels, I unpack what it means to be a woman this lifetime. I honor the feminine by acknowledging our trauma, and I transmute our bruises by writing and painting about them. This is my journey as a mystic creator.
My visions mix with my personality to create much more than a simple “selfie”. My work goes beyond just the reflection of personal challenges to echo universal themes. I believe my art is the intersection where the purity of the soul meets the brutality of reality.