July 2025 – The Path from Outer to Inner

I’m sharing a Truth I struggle with.

That is, ‘I don’t quite fit in’, or at least, have struggled to find a stable alignment with an art audience.  My creative impulse to explore, expand, experiment, doesn’t quite work within the art world’s parameters.  If an artist wants to ‘make it’, they need to settle into a ‘look’ they adhere to.  Whether going down the path of showing art through galleries, museums/institutions, or selling to private patrons, the expectation is that an artists’ work has a  recognizable ‘look’, and uses consistent media.  That has not been my forte. Who really knows if that is the root cause of my inability to secure a growing audience; perhaps my art vision is simply out of current ‘time’. After 40 years of sharing my art with the public, I feel disappointment about this.  However, I have and remain in integrity in expressing the changing visions as my life continues to unfold. I am truly grateful for the privilege, capacity and circumstances that have allowed this. My artistic creations express my growth and interests, which have evolved over my lifetime.  Here, I review this Arc of Outer to Inner, with a handful of exemplary pieces and corresponding life inspirations.

As backdrop, know that I explore what is inspiring, with the tools, techniques and materials that are alluring.  Because I enjoy learning, reaching a level of expertise then moving on (admittedly, I get bored easily), I’ve changed up my media, methods and approaches quite a bit over the years.  Changes also reflect the deeper soul evolution within me as a consequence of life experiences .  Although there are consistent themes over the years, I believe the biggest shift has been from social commentary to interior frameworks.  The ‘subject matter’ reflects this shift most precisely.

Subject matter has shifted from Environmental and Feminist issues, to Spiritual Tools and Concepts. My focus shifted from pushing back at social norms in the Outer world to focus on changing my Inner World.  This reflects the greater trajectory of my life.  As an avid outdoor adventurer and biologist, my distress over environmental concerns meshed with my exploration of clay in the 1980-90’s. From ‘Endangered Species’ to ‘Couch Potatoes’, the work could have a critical edge, but more often, a mythic, and sometimes,

 

 

whimsical leaning.  As I reflected on Global Imbalances due to ‘survival of the fittest’ beliefs, fueled via patriarchal ideals, my driving intention was for imagery to question the status quo and to encourage one to acknowledge how our unquestioning adherence to ‘conformist reality’, is devastating to all of life.  The conflation of Earth and Women to be controlled and dominated, was at the heart of my feminist perspective of why/how environmental devastation existed and continues.  The mythic aspect allows for the knowing of where humanity exists within the larger cycling of evolutionary time.

However, personal challenges instigated my shift from outer focus to inner.

When my life flew way off the direction I thought I was headed, I shifted my creative focus from external world commentary, to inner inspiration; intentional spiritual exploration was at the heart of it. I dug deeper into yogic philosophy, and my physical yoga practices became more consistent and expanded into breathing, relaxation and meditation that allowed for deep healing: physically, emotionally and mentally. The Mandala is a tool for meditation, and I created many of them, as well as labyrinths (not mazes), in public spaces .  My ‘other’ work in the world shifted from teaching art at the university, to offering healing through Yoga Therapy, a multi-modal approach of sharing practices that establish Awareness; this is at the heart of Evolving Consciousness.

 

In New Age terms, this is the Ascension Process, of which I created an entire series of artworks.  For me, this decades-long process involves transforming psychological wounds through compassion, for self and others.  It helped me realize the Truth: the outer world will change only when we heal ourselves deeply enough to experience the interconnection with all that is… the knowingness which is based upon raising consciousness out of survival… into all can thrive.  This is the foundation of building a new society possible right now.

 

Part of raising our consciousness is to expand our awareness as being part of a galactic family and universe.  The reemergence of astrology, and unlocking censored government files of extraterrestrial history on Earth, have encouraged humanity to think differently about who we are in relation to a larger context.  In short, Earth humans are but one form of intelligent creation within a vast universe of galaxies.  I believe it’s imperative we open our minds, center in our hearts, and hone our sensory abilities beyond what we are told we are capable of. The path opening up to us is to re-establish ourselves within a bountiful spectrum of beautiful expressions of the divine.  For that is what we are… neither more, nor less.

Grasping how conditioned we are to ‘fit in’, harkens back to my Truth shared at the beginning.

Who is my audience? Who is game to have something different in their homes, on their walls, that may not simply reaffirm the status quo of what is acceptable? To be willing to really look, explore and envision with me, in community, a new template for humanity, arising from the deep knowing of our inter-dependence and interconnection with all that is. It is truly a miraculous moment in time if we see beyond the drama of the powers trying to hold on to crumbling structures.

There is so much potential for humanity to envision, create and live in peace and prosperity; it relies upon raising our consciousness to a level of knowing we are but one node is a vast web of creation.  Let us apply our wills and hearts towards being an integral aspect of that vision.

What conditioning do you want to shed, that will allow for greater freedom to create the world you desire?  What are some of your visions for the future Gaia, humanity and all of life?