"For from the greatness and beauty of created things
comes a corresponding perception of
their Creator."
–
Wisdom 13:5
As my Christian journey deepens, the integration of my
faith and artistic explorations seem to meld, evolve and
unfold. My methods of painting and rendering form, an
almost hyper-observant style, are experienced as a
contemplative, meditative encounter. The painting
process is a layering and "building" of form over time.
And in that time spent, looking for the natural,
internal rhythm of the objects' structure, the lines
that define its mass and the light that shapes its
volume and form, it seems possible to see beneath the
surface, to the heart of the object- the very thing that
makes it this form and no other. A beauty deeply hidden
and, or, a momentary connection to the continuity of its
incarnation. A moment when an understanding that God is
in all things and that when all things are profoundly
observed, they will offer up the key to their
fundamental distinctiveness, that which is at the very
core of its relationship to its Creator.
It is in seeking and connecting to this divine
particularity that a relationship between the incarnate
of ourselves and the divinity in the world around us is
possible. Reveling in uniqueness- God's gift to all of
us and crystallized in Gerard Manley Hopkins lines,
"For Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in
limbs, and lovely in eyes not his".
In mining the intrinsic design elements of an object for
color, volume, mass and values, we gain an opportunity
to call on the palette of the spirit; that of emotion,
mood, tension, balance, darkness or lightness. Our
observation of the external world, articulated through
the tools of art, becomes the outward representation of
our internal experience. Creation itself is a muse to
spiritual formation and our creations become wonder,
marvel, humility, fear, joy and melancholy in
relationship to its existence.
In the piece exhibited here, Shells, Time and Light,
an assembled series of 25 paintings, I hope to offer a
vision of the innumerable ancient layers of sea-worn
color that have developed into the shells being and the
deep rich luminosity of its protected interior. By
placing the objects in undefined environment and
breaking up the picture plane into a grid-like form, I
am inviting the viewer to seek a visual unity,
connecting the actual and implied lines of the
composition, and to observe and relate to the divine
particularity of the objects in a fresh and new way.
Heidi Christensen
E-mail:
hchristensen@earthlink.net
Images:
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