Homage

Homage

When I visited St. Margaret’s 12th century chapel in the Edinburgh Castle, it was a sacred place for me. So much so that I came back and visited it a second time. The sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows sending splashes of color on the rough hewn walls. It drew me in and I sat quietly. That was my first introduction to St. Margaret. 

I was so moved by my experience that I opted to visit another place where she had been: the Dunfermline Abbey, which was founded by St. Margaret. It is also where she was buried. I was not surprised that Dunfermline Abbey also felt sacred. 

This piece is created from two different perspectives of the interior of the Dunfermline Abbey Church, with its time-weathered columns and arches seeping with traces from the past.

Size: (h x w) 32" x 24"

Media: Phototransfer and pastels on maple

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Illumination

Illumination

The sunlight is glaring through a window in the Great Hall of the Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.  I overlaid this with a celtic cross from Iona, allowing the light from the window to illuminate it.

Size: (h x w) 16" x 20"

Media" Digital photography

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Remains

A photograph of the Nunnery ruins on the Isle of Iona, in Scotland, is combined with an image of sheep grazing on a nearby hillside. As such, the remains of the nunnery merge with the flock that remains in the pasture offering a reflection on time and place. 

Size: (h x w) 20" x 16"

Media: Digital composition

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Buttressed

This piece contains overlapping images of the flying buttresses of Dunfermline Abbey in Scotland. These exterior elements provide the support for the interior space. To me that is a beautiful, transcendent thought.

Size (h x w): 30" x 20"

Media: Original digital composition on canvas

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Memorialized

While driving toward Iona, Scotland, I randomly pulled over to get a better look at a nearby lake, appropriately named Lake Awe.  I had no idea that just ahead a charming little church, St. Conan’s Kirk, was nestled in the trees with terraces overlooking the lake. 

As I wandered closer, I heard the most glorious sound spilling out from the church-- such amazingly beautiful music! Yet, it was Sunday afternoon, long after church would have let out.  It turns out a Dutch choir had stopped to practice inside the church on their way to a choir competition.

The unexpected surprise in the beauty of the music, the humble charm of the stone church with its lakefront terraces, and the glimmering lake beyond combined into a very moving experience.  I lingered there for a long time. I have tried to capture this experience visually by combining a photo of Lake Awe, shot from one of the terraces, with an image of a locked off side chapel, with light streaming in. Together, they seem to “memorialize” the beauty of that moment.

Size: (h x w) 16" x 24"
Media: Original digital composition on canvas
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All Around

A photo of doors leading out from the Iona Abbey, on the Isle of Iona in Scotland, are intertwined with two other images: one of the chapel of St. Margaret at the Edinburgh Castle and the other of a meadow that was carpeted with beautiful purple flowers.  I wanted to convey fluid borders of beauty and the Divine.

Size (h x w) 14" x 11"

Media: Original digital print on arches paper

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Meditation

Meditation. An image of a window opening within the ruins of a Nunnery on the Isle of Iona, Scotland, is combined with a labyrinth that was created in the sand on a secluded little beach.  Together they create a quiet, meditative space of solace.

Size (h x w): 14" x 11" (matted and framed)

Media: original digital print on arches paper

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The Way

Time to start posting new work created from my Scotland imagery!

The Way

A small chapel sits behind the Iona Abbey on the Isle of Iona.  I would guess that not everyone who visits Iona even ventures into this humble, overshadowed space.  

It was very quiet and peaceful-- a thin place for me.  The light coming in the window of the dark chapel made the silhouette of the cross a focal point.

I overlaid this shot of the window and cross with a photo of the Iona Abbey courtyard to create a perspective that leads to, or through, the cross.

Size: (h x w) 24" x 16"

Media: Digital photography on canvas

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Sacred Voices exhibit

The Sacred Voices exhibit opens Thursday, Dec 5, 2013 along with the St. John's Bible exhibit at the Canton Museum of Art.  Sacred Voices features Jewish, Christian, and Muslim artists whose artwork is inspired by their faith.

I have been working as a guest curator on the Sacred Voices exhibit for the Canton Museum of Art for almost a year now and am so thrilled with how it has shaped up.  Honestly, researching and selecting work for this show has been so deeply rewarding.  As a person who takes my own faith very seriously in my life and in my artwork, it has been such a delight to find so many others whose artwork is an extension of their faith.  I think that for an artist of faith, art making can be such a valuable way of living out and processing your beliefs, while also sharing them with others.

For Sacred Voices I sought artists whose faith seemed embedded in their creative process and whose work conveyed a spirituality and depth of belief. This is obviously a very personal perspective, but it was the driving force of my curatorial process.  I gravitated toward work that was contemplative, poetic even, in how it drew you in and prompted you to experience the work, regardless of your faith as the viewer.  It is not about differences, it is about how faith inspires art, AND how art inspires faith!

There are 60 works featured in this exhibit created by 37 artists mostly from the US, but also from Australia, Austria, Canada, and the United Kingdom as well.  I have had the wonderful privilege of meeting many of these artists when I picked up artwork in person on the East Coast and Midwest, and am excited to meet some of the other artists who will be attending the opening reception as well.  

If you are in the area, I hope you can come to this exhibit.  It is open until March 2, 2014.

http://www.cantonart.org/