The Star that Shines Bright
Art: Chuck + Peg © Genesis+Art
House of Emigrants
Växjö, Sweden
We live our lives as an artistic practice. For us, the real work of being an artist is a way of being in the world. We tend to think of our art as the harvest of the lives we are living.
For almost three weeks we have sauntered our way along the coastal and forested region of Sweden. A place we have both longed to spend time in. In many ways it is a journey to recover the memories of our ancestorial families. Where did they live, what clues of memories might they have of the place that helped to form who they were and what did they bring across the Atlantic that couldn’t be packed in a steamer trunk. I’m wondering if their story is written into the rocks here as well as their bones. We are seeking a quiet conversation between our ancestors - where the past holds space for the present, and the present honors the past. This holds significant meaning for us as we are living out of time in a burning world. We seem to have arrived someplace between hope and despair.
We found the Swedish people kind, curious, and concerned for the world. A concern for us, as Americans, in particular. We found in some ways we have a familiar way of living life with the Swedes. When our ancestors immigrated to America the feeling is they sought places that felt familiar. They brought their memories with them and shared a piece of Swedish culture with the generations to come. We realized the memories were more than photographs and letters. It was something about the senses that sparked our imaginations. The Swedish landscape, smells, the soil, the ever-changing seasonal weather, the different perspective of stars in the sky at night, and the cardamom. The lilacs are in bloom and the smell of them are everywhere in Sweden. Beautifully fragrant. Peg recalled how her grandmother loved lilacs, as did her mother, as does Peg. They all planted lilacs around their homes as have Peg and i. We wondered if the scent triggered a memory for them of the homeland. For whatever reason, the collective ancestorial memories of the past have unknowingly been shared through the generations. We breathed in the past and that rooted us in a new way.
We feel destined to paint about our experiences with time, but more so, we paint to help bring resilience and peace into the world. We have lived our lives as openly as we can by listening, connecting, and feeling the world around us. Sweden did that for us. It helped us feel the vastness of the world and the different perspectives that exist, the unique ways of living life, and a deep need to connect with creation.
Our art process and the act of creating opens a space for wonder, imagination, and connection can take place. This is what art does. It is a circle, a circle of creativity and wholeness that opens a dialogue and relationship with the creator spirit, the viewer, and us. When we are open to one another and connect our relationship to our Creator Spirit, we will travel the rapids of creativity together on a raft over which we have no control. We’re being borne along by the power of that Spirit, trusting in this process of renewal. We experience the Creator Spirit as the Light within all life. It’s a way of seeing the human journey as essentially pilgrimage, traveling through the outer veil of reality into our inner light of being. The Creator Spirit is as important as breathing for us. In and out. Receiving and giving. We stamp our art with a dancing under the stars mark as a symbol of our process and a reminder of our connection with Creator Spirit in and through the universe.
SHARE THIS BLOG POST: