Some moments are so profoundly peaceful that they leave you bereft and disenchanted with life after their passing. They are vibrant spaces of infinite stillness and wonder that stand outside of time. Stillness is sustenance for artists and creative souls. My time at Watershed Studios Art Residency provided this, allowing my soul to rest and expand. In a world of numbing and inundation, it gives way for space and silence to let your thoughts, feelings, and ideas grow immensely. Time with others at the residency, with nature, and time simply alone–no pretenses. Some of my most transformative moments were found nearby and often on the Connemara Coast. What I had there was an experience of Beauty–I did not know how to define it or put it into words, so I aimed to communicate it visually within the piece, Eternal.
The desire was to mirror the feelings of being so deeply connected to everything all at once, yet simultaneously feeling your smallness and awareness of the vastness of life. We are each threads of a greater network, bridges that connect every possibility, every reality. I wanted to capture the bittersweet ache of existing as a spiritual being having a human experience, of an infinite soul confined to flesh and bone. There is great dissonance within it, but also great beauty. It is an experience of longing, for love, for belonging, to be a part of the whole. The great illusion is that we are individual, separate. Separate from ourselves, from each other, from nature. Beauty is a state of grace and connectivity with the present, and in that moment off the coast of Ireland, I was completely consumed by it. The spirit of Ireland is resounding and completely tangible. The land feels alive there in a way I can’t describe. Whether it is its Celtic roots and rich cultural history, or something greater, I do not know, but it is truly incredible to witness.
After my time at the residency, I couldn’t shake this feeling. In fact, I was grieving the experience and was desperate to feel it again. This showed me that this is something I needed to cultivate within myself, no matter where I am. I began searching for books or ideas to help put words to that experience to better make sense of it. I read John O’Donohue’s Anam Cara a few years prior and the beauty and reverence of his writing stuck with me. I sought more of his wisdom in Beauty the Invisible Embrace, and this work not only affirmed my feelings but expanded them, enhancing my perception and prescribing new ways to view myself and the world around me. This book helped me define Beauty. To me, Beauty is a spiritual experience that originates from love. It is an energy that emanates from a person, place or thing. It is something that is not merely seen but felt.
In searching for this feeling, I discovered it is a practice of eternal presence, treating every second as a gift, every action a prayer to something greater. As long as our soul is accessible, so is this experience. From lack to abundance, from absence to gratitude, from fractured to wholeness. Beauty is an experience, not an aesthetic or mere perception. Beauty extends to a state of being.
“The graced eye can glimpse beauty anywhere, for beauty does not reserve itself for special elite moments or instances; it does not wait for perfection but is present already secretly in everything.” - John O’Donohue
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