I've created a 12 piece art exhibit that is FOR RENT (to churches, galleries, and venues) for interactive contemplative experiences. If there is interest in renting this exhibit, please contact me through email.
I created my exhibit in the contemplative tradition of "Stations of the Cross" that is usually experienced within liturgical churches, but with the difference that instead of the literal journey of Jesus Christ to the cross I have depicted a more contemporary personal journey of a heart. I researched and studied the traditional contemplative art form of iconography and have practiced the contemplative prayer forms of lectio and visio divina.
In creating my exhibit I wanted to bring forward these ancient practices to modern day to create a kind of modern icon experience, and in such a way that whether the viewer has experience in liturgical practice or not, hopefully they can still connect with the exhibit in a personal way.
Each station piece is made of various pieces of wood that have a center image created on cardboard (and decorated with gold leaf). Attached to each is a statement with questions meant to draw the viewer into a more personal interaction with the art piece. Each station piece leads to the next in a journey-like format allowing the viewer to follow a path much like we experience in real life (often times we experience it in cycles throughout our lives).
My exhibit is titled:
"There and Back Again: A Heart's Journey to Love Much and Love Well"
How to approach this art exhibit:
If you choose to journey through it, follow the arrows.
This exhibit is meant to be an opportunity to journey in contemplation through creativity. Allow yourself to engage with the art pieces themselves, but also allow yourself to experience something deeper emotionally and spiritually, beyond the art. Take the time to approach each station piece in sequence (starting with the Intro piece that explains the background of the exhibit and continue on through the Roman numerals 1-12).
As you approach a piece: view the center painting. Read the words hanging. Allow yourself to connect with the entire piece of art, engage with the words that are hanging, contemplate the meaning for you. Ask yourself questions. What is going on here in this piece for the heart? What is God saying to your heart through this piece? When you’re ready, follow the arrow to the next station piece. Continue the journey. The journey is meant to be a cycle we each experience (probably several times in a lifetime).
Some station pieces may speak to you more than others. That’s okay. Is there a station piece that connects with you more than the others? If so, ask yourself why. Is there a station piece that disturbs you more than the others? If so, ask yourself why. Spend time in prayer about it. Take some time to journal about it. Ask God to continue speaking to you during this Lenten/Easter season about what you connected with through this journey experience.
Thank you for embarking on the journey.
Like stones of remembrance, each station depicts a moment along the path that has been influential to the journey of the heart.
Each tiny painting print is from an original large mixed media painting on canvas. Many of the originals were not created in the order they appear in this exhibit but are specifically placed now to create a journey for the heart. The koru swirl at the bottom of each piece is a seal meaning new beginnings.
There and Back Again: A Hearts Journey to Love Much and Love Well has been a ten year project, from inception to research, to its completion. And it s been the culmination of thirteen years of learning to listen for the Voice that calls the heart to take the risk, to trust, to be set free, to be who it s supposed to be, and to love much and love well.
1
Fill Me Up
It starts with the willingness to be open. Open for change. Open to learn and grow and become. Open to dream of more. Open to let go of all that would hinder. Open to new beginnings. Open to enter the journey unexpected.
Sing Over Me
And then there s the call. A call on the wind that sings out to the heart. It s a voice from within that calls out from beyond. Arise. Come away with me. The season of singing has begun. Come. Something resonates within the heart. Passions are stirred and a question is asked.
Open Heart
Me? Now? Will it be safe? The heart weighs the pros and cons of the journey. And after much contemplation, the heart answers and makes the decision to surrender to the quest. To take the risk. To trust love. To step, to run out the door onto the road, away from the comfort of what is familiar and enter the adventure awaiting beyond.
Who Are You?
The journey can take the heart to exciting and dangerous places. Along the way the heart encounters others and it recognizes that so much is at stake. The heart sees (as if for the first time) It s not just about me, there s so much more. Where do I fit in? The heart wonders does it have what it takes to accept the burden of the journey and make it to the end?
5
Storm Dancer
As the journey continues, the heart endures troubles and difficulties that can be overwhelming like a furious storm. Some can be scary and make a grown heart feel like a child. Not all storms are meant to bring harm. Some are meant to build courage and faith to dance upon the raging waves. It s not so bad to be like a child, full of hope and wonder.
6
Dive Deep
And if the heart leans in to listen intently, it can hear a voice calling out from the storm. A voice that beckons it to dive. To dive deeper into the waters. To swim past all that seems logical, down into the depths of surrender. It is here where the real work can begin. It s here in the deep that new life is birthed.
7
Heart Surgery
It is in the depths of surrender that the heart can undergo the needed surgery for new beginnings. It s here on the table of sacrifice that the heart is most vulnerable. It gives itself over to the bloody mess of the work and allows for the removal of all that has hindered it from being fully free. Pain is necessary to understand joy.
Isolation
Pain can cause the heart to retract. The vulnerability of surrendering to the process of transformation can feel like too much at times. The heart isolates overcome by selfishness, pride, hurts, fears and insecurities. The question why? is asked. Faced with the reality of the self, the heart wants to turn back. Back to where it started. Back to where if felt safer.
The Battle
What the heart may not know is that there is a war being waged behind the scenes. The heart is valued more than it can realize. The battle is fierce. Will the heart be set free to live fully in the light with confidence or will it be chained and bound in darkness by fears and insecurities? What the heart needs to know is that it is good and worth fighting for. And it is not alone.
All Things New
Refreshing rain will come to wash away the blood, sweat, and tears of rebirth. The pain of the journey has been for a purpose. The call on the wind was True. The heart has been remade. Love pours and flows and is expressed from everything it does and says and is.
Restoration
Now the heart, instead of retracting into darkness, has been restored to the light. It can turn towards, instead of away from. It reaches out with compassion and embraces community. It is restored through new beginnings into who it is supposed to be...fully alive.
Communion in Community
The journey has taken the heart to there and back again. Like a portal to the past with hope for the future, the heart can be fully present and alive. It feels a part of something much bigger than itself and it will never be the same. It willingly embraces the communion of other hearts and recognizes that the journey isn t over. The heart was made for so much more. And so the heart finds itself at the beginning once again setting out to love much and love well.
My desire for this exhibit is to be able to rent it out to churches, galleries, and venues for interactive contemplative experiences. There is even a bowl I provide that has tiny stones and shells. If the viewer experiences a special heart connection to any part of the exhibit they are encouraged to take a stone or a shell with them as a reminder of the experience. If you or your organization or venue have interest in renting my exhibit you can contact me via email at: revelatorart@yahoo.com
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