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Introduction:
With One Eye Open (and One Eye Closed)
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Excerpt
from Spirit Taking Form: Art Making as a Spiritual Practice (2002)
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Visual art,
such as painting and sculpture, has its own kind of language. It reaches
us in a way that words cannot, for words cannot be literally translated
into visual form. Art is not only the pictorial description of something
beautiful. As defined in this book, art is a visual description in a language
of shape, color and form, presenting the viewer with a dialogue different
from that found in words. It is a graphic manifestation of the way we
think and feel.
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By
developing a visual sense and a visual form as a means to express that sense
and by viewing work that has a visual presence, we enter a more spacious
dimension than words can offer. This visual dimension offers the possibility
of wisdom as well as an expression of experience. Because it is a different
kind of dimension from what we usually know through words, it can be a healing
experience, a communication with spirit, and a way to make a connection
to the divine.
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This
book is for those of you who want to expand and examine your own vision.
It is for those of you who have never made art and are curious, for those
of you who have stopped working for whatever reason, and even for those
of you who are artists and want to rethink some ideas or try out the exercises
and meditations. A major focus of this book is how art making is connected
to our imagination and how our imagination is developed by meditation.
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My
hope is that this book will give you insight into the expression of visual
language and how it can be applied to your life as a catalyst for growth,
change and expression. My student Mary says that I represent a kind of spirit
door to her, a door that opens and shines a light onto her mysteries on
the other side of her everyday world. This is a good metaphor for what I
want this book to be, a door that will open to that deep place in each of
us. I hope to open that door and to help you find a spirit light within
where you can view your inner self as if watching a film, see your personal
images there, and find the place where your own spirit takes form. |
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All
images ©Nancy Azara 2005
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