I love when I get obsessed! I know this might be some strange issue in the DSM [Diagnostic & Statistical Method of Mental Health Disorders!] but as an artist it’s like going on a date with your muse. Where it goes, how you get there and what you glean is a wide-open journey that only your time and creativity may influence. This is the juice that our human spirit longs for. It’s like that first big drop if you’re a roller-coaster lover. . . an interesting purpose, a good journey and the muse all at once. I have found the spark that initiates this journey for me is often my land. There is a deep connection to this particular place for me, and it is different than what you may experience at a gorgeous place in nature. For me it has to do with living on a piece of land for 25-years and seeing the day-to-day and season changes that happen here. The ground bees that indicate a committed spring for instance. But what most inspires me is the dreaming this land offers me. . . it is like synchronized breathing with a beloved and the accompanying energy that this communion brings, but in this case, it is the land itself. I feel it’s breathe expanding into me and feeding me. I love it here! It’s not because of it’s physical beauty-although it is lovely, but because it partners with me and inspires me with creative vision. I recharge myself by sitting next to this swamp near-by. The heady earthy smell of the muddy water, the cat-tails that sway in the breeze and all of nature that floods my senses and feeds my soul!
I realize that not everyone is afforded a long courtship with a piece of land like this, I am so fortunate! This January has been a fully committed winter which we’ve not had for some years. A couple heavy snows, loss of power, huddling around the wood-stove, feeding neighbors who don’t have a gas stove that will light with a match, and getting to know them as they too huddle around the wood-stove in the living room together with my 91yo mother and myself. Just enough remnants of a less hectic era here on mother earth to make things fun for 24-hours. This was the perfect set-up for this passion that has been simmering on the back burner for a couple months. This collection of tributes to the divine feminine energy in her many expressions has been wanting physical reality. From the Nile River Goddess to Wonder Woman I have been feeling the need to bring them into creation! These images or effigies are more than visual expressions I believe-as they hold space for the deeper expression of the divine feminine as I created them as altars too. Most of them have a place to light a candle or place a tiny vase of flowers. A place for you to connect to your hopes and dreams and to honor your own expression of that in your home or office space. I love creating altars. I am often inspired by many Asian or Buddhist countries that are surrounded by sacred imagery from many traditions. Shrines, temples and effigies abound in the streets, stores and people’s homes and businesses. It makes me wonder too, if we were immersed in this type of imagery, if our culture would be less beholden to material pursuits? As our technology now allows us to recognize ancient cities and megalithic temple sites all around the world and under-water too, it seems our ancient ancestors were connected to the cosmos in a way that we still don’t quite understand or acknowledge. . .
Mid-February is fast approaching, and I’m still immersed in finishing a few more small altars. This month I’m working on a donation for the Solace Center at Wake Interact. This is the only free-standing domestic violence and sexual assault center in any county in North Carolina- meaning people can go directly to this center and by-pass the emergency room. I’m also planning on starting a commission piece for a local tienda of a 4’ X 4’ image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Also planned is to work on the face of another mermaid. So, I’m calling February the month of faces. . . I hope to see your smiling face and if I’m not so lucky I send you a wish for love and joy in this month of hearts and Valentines!
Thanks again for reading this!
Theresa
