sabbatical learnings gallery show

now on private display at riverside on the james

My personal study during my summer sabbatical in Europe from the summer of 2023 took shape around the concept of anam cara or “soul friend” in the most literal sense. I spent time traveling with my soul friend Jayme and her beloved Jim, and with my beloved Richard and our 2 children. My personal study and reflection considered reflecting on the inner landscape as we traveled the outer landscape, framed within Celtic spiritually’s belief that the divine is inherently within and around all.

I am inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi - mending broken pottery with gold. Kintsugi, or golden joinery, creates a more beautiful work of art through its repair. Veins of gold join the broken pieces of pottery to make the vessel whole once more. I am inspired by the natural world in its color and beauty as well as the vivid imaginative world created within the mind’s eye. 

Through this collection, I marking moments of my sabbatical travel and their presence within my current inner landscape. When remembering and reflecting that journey, I found myself enraptured once again by the sights & sounds of nature all around. I highlight six of these moments which come from my simple pencil line work drawings in my sabbatical journals (see two examples below) on large 36x60 inch canvases. Each image speaks of connection, hope, and good medicine - all contributing to a healing that takes shape within and all around us.

Within this collection, six smaller works represent the inner landscape and are created on 18x30 inch canvases. Each of the backgrounds of these are based on the energy of travel then and now and the colors of my experience.

The final three pieces are of my own wildness in a variety of forms created on 36x72 inch canvas - a landscape view of wildness, a single stem growing wild, and a wild scene hidden within and underneath portals - vignettes of the image beneath. Handwritten hopes and wise words, transparent and opaque layers, and gold leaf adorn these pieces.

All works are acrylic mixed media on 1.5 inch deep gallery wrap canvas and sealed with wire for hanging on the back. Each is hand signed. All are available for purchase.