VineArts Gallery Art Exhibit: Abundant Joy

Here is a short video of the beginning of the Opening Reception for our new VineArts Gallery Art Exhibit titled: Abundant Joy. We have over 6o pieces of art (of various mediums) being displayed by over 30 local & national artists in this show. I took the video just as people were starting to come into the gallery for the reception. We ended up having a packed gallery as hundreds of people came through today to view the art, meet the artists, listen to the live piano & cello music, and enjoy the refreshments. The exhibit will be up for about 2.5 months.

I absolutely love being the Installation Coordinator of the VineArts Gallery. We install quarterly juried & themed exhibits. Each show is open to the public to submit (we've gotten local, national & international artists submissions). I'm so glad I'm not alone in this! It's a lot of work coordinating the entire process from advertising, creating & distributing entry packets, themes & title wall concepts, website updates, submission taking, overseeing the jurying, cateloging & archiving, producing artist statements, figuring out artwork placement within the gallery, installing & hanging the artwork, adjusting lighting, coordinating the opening reception with live music, refreshments, & advertising, and connecting & communicating with each artist. So I must thank God that I get to work side by side with an amazing team of VineArts leaders & volunteer helpers (I couldn't do any of this without them all!) And I also get to meet SO MANY extremely talented artists (of all ages, backgrounds, skill levels, genders, cultures, & media expertise) who have so much to offer and so much to share from their hearts through their creativity. It's an honor! I'm very thankful to be a part of all of this.

Teaching Pollock

Jackson Pollock

It's no surprise (if you know me personally or if you have been reading this blog) that I am inspired by American Abstract Expressionist Painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1956). His drip & splatter painting techniques have been an influence in my abstract expressionist collage paintings. People have their opinions about this kind of art. Some say "my 4 year old could do that!" and they scoff at the thousands of dollars valued on abstract paintings of this form. What they don't "get" or "value" is that splatter paintings are actually harder to create than they think. It is so much more than dripping paint onto canvas...it's about the ability to connect with the painting and express from within what the artist is feeling. It's about telling a story that can reach anyone at anytime through the heart if they would only have eyes to see and ears to hear.

"Convergence" c.1952 Jackson Pollock

Jackson is quoted to say:
"My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to the hard wall or the floor. I need the resistance of a hard surface. On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well."

It was January of 2005 when I took my first plunge into expressionism. Some friends gave me the use of their basement for a day to fling the paint and give it a go. I was hooked from the moment I let the first bit of colorful paint fly.

I found an amazing sense of freedom within as I experimented with various house paints to create several abstracts with the drippling and splattering techniques that Pollock perfected.

Since that first basement experience I have perfected my own style with abstract expressionism, utilizing Pollock's techniques as an enhancement to what I create. I can understand what Pollock was talking about regarding being IN the painting. It's like the painting has a story to tell and I'm the interpreter.

"Sweetly Broken" c.2007 Lisa Marten

I have had the opportunity to teach 3 abstract expressionist workshops to adults and teens since 2005 and each time has been a fun and invigorating experience. And now for a 4th time...I was recently asked to be a guest speaker/teacher for an art class taught at the Home School Co-Op at Vineyard Boise. I got to teach 2 days about Jackson Pollock and give a class of Jr. High youth a chance to create some splatter paintings of their own. It was really cool to watch them go from being disengaged & apathetic as youth, to really having fun and getting into the paint and engaging with what they were creating. I love it when I see that transformation take place.

Not everyone is a fan...and that's okay. And yes, Jackson was no saint. But I'm thankful for artists like Jackson Pollock...hearts that cry out through their creativity and speak to us to wake up & look at our own hearts...to be who we were meant to be. We need hearts like that in this world!

Fullfillment

"Our gifts are not from God to us, but from God through us to the world. When we fail to use these gifts, we suffer the same way a person accustomed to regular physical activity may feel pent up, out of sorts, and off-balance after going for several days without exercise. When we try to live without exercising our artistic gifts, we may feel restless and empty. Life lacks fullness. Something buried deep within longs to emerge...If we have neglected to develop and use the talents God has given us, we feel incomplete, unfulfilled, unfinished, even depressed...We devour books, we travel, we acquire possessions, or we busy ourselves in relationships and careers. We engage in diversions of all kinds in an attempt to find that elusive thing called fulfillment. We spend our time and money in a fruitless search to 'find ourselves' instead of finding out how God wants us to use the talents he has given us."

-Janice Elsheimer The Creative Call: An Artist's Response to the Way of the Spirit

I have the priviledge of hanging out on a regular basis with artists of all kinds of backgrounds, ages, genders, ethnicity, skill levels, medium choices, and faiths. The subject of 'fulfillment in life' comes up almost every day, especially when it comes to our creativity. It is amazing to me at how many artists struggle with this one subject more than anything else.

"Our vocation in not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny." -Thomas Merton

I believe there is something to this idea of partnering with God in our creativity and in our lives. Partnering with God involves allowing your heart to sing the same song that the Spirit is singing and being of one heart with the Father and one mind with Christ. It is conversation in prayer with the expression of needs & wants & daring to dream. It is listening to the heart of the Father, letting go, listening to the words of Jesus, acceptance, listening to the voice of the Spirit, agreement. And it's the willingness to wait when you're to wait, and to take action when you're to take action.

"Before I can listen to God in prayer, I must fumble through the prayers of words, of willful demands, the prayers of childish 'Gimmes,' of 'Help mes,' of 'I want...' Until I tell God what I want, I have no way of knowing whether or not I truly want it. Unless I ask God for something, I do not know whether or not it is something for which I ought to ask, and I cannont add, 'But if this is not your will for me, then your will is what I want, not mine.' The prayers of words cannot be eliminated. And I must pray them daily, whether I feel like praying or not. Otherwise, when God has something to say to me, I will not know how to listen. Until I have worked through self, I will not be enabled to get out of the way.

Someone wrote, 'The principal part of faith is patience,' and this applies, too, to art of all disciplines. We must work every day whether we feel like it or not; otherwise when it comes time to get out of the way and listen to the work, we will not be able to heed it." -Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

So are we living a life fulfilled? Are we partnering with God in our creativity and in our lives and being all that we were meant to be? Or are we caught up in distractions & diversions, fears & rejections, false selves & pride? Through all the noise of the "I can't"s that scream in our ears, are we not even able to hear our own voices, let alone God's voice? These are my questions this year...for my life and for yours. Are we awake and alive in our hearts? Or are we asleep and slowly dying? What will it take for us to say YES and stop saying NO?