Art & Spirituality
Art is an expression, communication, using imagination and skills to create aesthetic objects, environments, experiences, and emotions. It can be through the visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking), the graphic arts (design, photography, and other forms expressed on flat surfaces), the plastic arts (sculpture, modeling), the decorative arts (enamelwork, furniture design, mosaic), and architecture (interior design, exterior design), literature (poetry, drama, story), and the performing arts (theatre, dance, music).
Spirituality is the belief in something greater than ourselves. It is a dedication to understanding the human spirit or soul, relationships, values, and life purpose. It is immersing into what is the universe, the meaning of life, mind, consciousness, body, emotions, metaphysical, and eternity. It helps us to become familiar with the reality of life, gain awareness, and cultivate peace.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20-29
I am devoted to art & spirituality. These are topics that fascinate me, and the more I research, study, and seek. The more I comprehend that our human minds are not meant to decode them but instead experience them. We seek the meaning of life to discover we are the meaning.
“What you seek is seeking you.” Rumi
The ability to engage with something outside of us, translate that non-physical into something tangible goes beyond what we can explain. The ability to observe an art piece, to wonder, and feel its message also goes beyond description. Being able to create art and appreciate it, to me, are spiritual practices.
As an artist, creating needs a purpose. The art-piece needs to be beyond aesthetics. It needs and wants a story. It desires to evoke something from the artist and the viewer. As a spiritual being, looking beyond us, or should I say, looking into us, is an art.
This blog will be a dedication to sowing the seeds of what I learn and practice on art & spirituality. Examples of art movements that can have spiritual intentions are abstractionism, ephemeral art, femmage art, frequency art, impressionism, spiritualist art, surrealism, and visionary art.
“Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow – perhaps it all will.” Albert Einstein
May we be willing. May we be persistent. May we be resilient. May we be love.
Works Cited
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “The Arts”.www.britannica.com.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-arts
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Spirituality”.www.britannica.com.https://www.britannica.com/topic/spirituality
artphto077
This is beautiful!
Susan Weeks
Comparing art to a spiritual seed is a powerful message. Every artist lives in wonder at the magical force of creation that flows through us when we work. Lately I’ve been working with mandalas which are a time-honored form of spiritual art. Working with circular forms that interweave each other hypnotically has produced some interesting results both artistically and spiritually. I’ve been using mandalas specifically to explore the past, ponder the future and visualize the future. Tibetan Buddhists use brightly colored sand mandalas as a form of meditation using art. Once the intricate spiritual design is complete, the llamas sweep the sand away with a broom in a gesture of significant destruction, symbolically acting out the temporary nature of life our human lives.