SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS: perspectives from Crestone
includes work by 16 members of CrestoneArtists exploring art, spirituality and the spirit of a unique place. Crestone, at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is internationally known for both it's natural beauty and over 30 spiritual centers. An intermingling of diverse traditions and a vibrant quietude provide inspiration to these artists.
Each piece reflects the artist’s’ search for meaning, a universal human quest. Spiritual Journeys is an invitation to deepen sacred relationships with each other and universal energy. All two dimensional work is approximately 30 inches high, including any framing, giving a unity to the installation. Previously shown in Crestone and Salida; Spiritual Journeys was exhibited in Gunnison in 2019.
Exhibition Coordinators are Noah Baen, Stephen Futral, and Allison Wonderland.
includes work by 16 members of CrestoneArtists exploring art, spirituality and the spirit of a unique place. Crestone, at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is internationally known for both it's natural beauty and over 30 spiritual centers. An intermingling of diverse traditions and a vibrant quietude provide inspiration to these artists.
Each piece reflects the artist’s’ search for meaning, a universal human quest. Spiritual Journeys is an invitation to deepen sacred relationships with each other and universal energy. All two dimensional work is approximately 30 inches high, including any framing, giving a unity to the installation. Previously shown in Crestone and Salida; Spiritual Journeys was exhibited in Gunnison in 2019.
Exhibition Coordinators are Noah Baen, Stephen Futral, and Allison Wonderland.
SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS: Perspectives from Crestone
Artist Statements
1. Noah Baen
Eugene Thicket, 29”x33”
Oil on canvas, $1200 |
Bush and Island, 28”x32”
Oil on canvas, $1200 |
I believe the divine—call it Spirit, Higher Dimensions, God or Goddess –pervades everything within us and around us. For me as an artist, that “something that lives in everything” is most accessible in Nature. The light, spaciousness and beauty of the landscape-- its life force—invite me into a dance of collaboration in form and color that becomes a painting. The painting, in turn, is my invitation to the viewer to enter into his or her own journey with Nature and Spirit and to share the emotions of joy, exhilaration, gratitude, expansion and openness that I have experienced.
2. Sofia Bogdanovic
Cat Tree Emanation of Wisdom,
30”x 30”, mixed media (Digital composite painting, of 2 oil paintings) |
Fly High,
36”x30”, mixed media (Acrylic and digital) |
Earth Child, 30”x30”, mixed media (drawing, oil painting and digital painting)
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Sofia Bogdanovic is an inspired visionary artist for whom art has always been Medicine, and one of the primary means of healing, exploration, self-expression, a tool for self inquiry, and maybe just a means of playfulness and accessing the innocence of the inner child. As a Serbian American Extra-terrestrial born in former Yugoslavia, I’ve studied the academic approach to visual art since age 12 and accrued a Masters degree in Fine Art/Film and Video from CSM in London, UK. I’ve been a world traveler, a lover of world cultures and music, and most of all of our home Gaia. As a seeker of knowledge, of what connects us all, and explorer of consciousness, I feel that we are at a critical point of transformation as a species and hope that my art can help open some portals of remembrance and ignite some passion to awaken and grow our greater better self… as we all need to inspire each other these days. www.studiospacetime.com
3. Blue Star Seed aka Meredith Rose
Paradigm Shift
30” x 20”, Oil on hemp linen $1111 |
Blue Humanoid in My Tea Is Me?
30"x20", Oil on hemp linen, $1111 |
Many Crestone locals describe the town as a place of crystals. In a recent group created comprising Crestonians, a "paradigm shift" was chosen as a priority. The gnome represents other beings helping humans; the mushroom grows in the wild plentifully in the state of Colorado. The eclipse at the top of the painting represents the change on our planet. If you turn the painting upside down, the Crestone skyline (the Sangre de Cristo mountains) are visible.
4. Domė
Energy in Rhythm 24"x30" Oil, $3200
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Feminine Rising 24”x30" Oil, $3200
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Ocean Play 24x30" Oil, $3200
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Through my paintings I strive to bring awareness to the unified field. Feeling disconnected is at the root of all of our problems. We have forgotten that we are connected to one another, our environment and the Divine. My art embodies the organic flow of energy that can be observed all throughout life. It’s in the wind, the plants, the animals, our dance moves and anywhere else you look!
By bringing awareness to this sacred energy that unites us we can embody true integrity. All of our thoughts, words and actions affect other people and the environment around us. When we can see the Oneness of all that is, we realize that we can heal the world by healing ourselves and reaching our highest potential.
I believe that harmony is our preferred natural state and given the opportunity our body, mind and Spirit will always reach for it. Art is known to have a strong influence on our emotions. I strive to create paintings that emit the most calming and uplifting energies. Through conscious choice we can create environments where we can embody the Love and Harmony that we came here to be.
I'm a self taught, Lithuanian born artist residing in the enchanted land of Crestone, Colorado.
Instagram: @mindful.fine.art, www.DomeFineArt.com
By bringing awareness to this sacred energy that unites us we can embody true integrity. All of our thoughts, words and actions affect other people and the environment around us. When we can see the Oneness of all that is, we realize that we can heal the world by healing ourselves and reaching our highest potential.
I believe that harmony is our preferred natural state and given the opportunity our body, mind and Spirit will always reach for it. Art is known to have a strong influence on our emotions. I strive to create paintings that emit the most calming and uplifting energies. Through conscious choice we can create environments where we can embody the Love and Harmony that we came here to be.
I'm a self taught, Lithuanian born artist residing in the enchanted land of Crestone, Colorado.
Instagram: @mindful.fine.art, www.DomeFineArt.com
5. Kaia Dercum
Harbinger at the tree of life, 30”x40”, Acrylic on Canvas, 2017, $800
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Thought and Memory in the forest of life, 30”x30”, Mixed media collage on board, 2017, $650
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Thought and memory alone persist, 30”x30”, Mixed media collage on board, 2017, $650
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This work springs from the Norse mythology about the over god Oden who watched over the world. He was accompanied by two ravens, “Thought” and “Memory “ who went out into the world daily and reported on its condition. The overarching concern was the condition of the tree of life gnawed on by a great serpent and giant wolf thus threatening the world.
I have used this mythology to explore the current condition of our planet using the metaphor of the tree of life, carbon symbols and the messengers of our own thought and memory as we consider our environment and its condition.
I have used this mythology to explore the current condition of our planet using the metaphor of the tree of life, carbon symbols and the messengers of our own thought and memory as we consider our environment and its condition.
6. Stephen Futral
"Ripples of the mind”, 30”x90”, sumi inks & acrylics on canvas triptych, $2400
in the wake of stillness
amidst the daily goings on
the mind jumps and fills in
whatever gaps may have occurred
seeking to stay busy
occupying our fickle mind
it can be a continual adventure
or a neurotic escape
whatever the path
the journey is always on
engaging mind, arm, hand
with paintbrush, color and canvas
i explore the emptiness / fullness
of mind looking at itself
with words and colors
i am sated in fulfilling my purpose
© stephen.futral / 2.may.2017
amidst the daily goings on
the mind jumps and fills in
whatever gaps may have occurred
seeking to stay busy
occupying our fickle mind
it can be a continual adventure
or a neurotic escape
whatever the path
the journey is always on
engaging mind, arm, hand
with paintbrush, color and canvas
i explore the emptiness / fullness
of mind looking at itself
with words and colors
i am sated in fulfilling my purpose
© stephen.futral / 2.may.2017
7. Karen Kenney
At One With the Flow, 30”x36” framed, sheet 22”x30”, Mixed Media Collage, $425
I work in collage because it allows me to stay connected to the miraculous and spiritual side of life. Finding a thread, a piece of paper or a foil wrapper, these earth materials, however processed, are inspiring when they are appreciated for their unique beauty. This piece started with a postcard. The lady is being birthed in a beneficent waterway, a moving flow of energy. Spirituality is to allow, to be in wonder, to be awake to the awe of everyday life which is pinned to the divine under all that we do.
8. Jane Kwan
(sample work, exhibited work will be 30” high, similar to these)
Yellow Woman: Once Upon a Time, 24”x18", Acrylic mixed mediaon board
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We Will Meet Again, 30"X40", Acrylic, Mixed media on canvas
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Night, 20”x16”, Acrylic mixed media on canvas
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In art making, our myths get awakened. Dreams and imagination give us clues to our soul,
and incarnation.
My Dreamscapes/Innerscapes painting series is of a space and time unknown.
Wisps of past lives, vague remembrances, figures and stories of an old world or walks
in the deep woods recently inform my heart-mind and spirit connection.
Sumi ink brush work, collages with tissues, torn pieces of my ink paintings, found pieces of paper/cloth, make their way into my art pieces like in streams of consciousness. They form the under layers such as the pentimenti of life processes. I let these markings lead to a connectivity that inspires the formation and completion of the images.
and incarnation.
My Dreamscapes/Innerscapes painting series is of a space and time unknown.
Wisps of past lives, vague remembrances, figures and stories of an old world or walks
in the deep woods recently inform my heart-mind and spirit connection.
Sumi ink brush work, collages with tissues, torn pieces of my ink paintings, found pieces of paper/cloth, make their way into my art pieces like in streams of consciousness. They form the under layers such as the pentimenti of life processes. I let these markings lead to a connectivity that inspires the formation and completion of the images.
9. Posey Nelson
K’uan, Contemplation, View, 16 1/2” x 10” x 10”, Yule marble, Gunnison granite base, $1450
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Cosmic Seed, 12” x 10 3/4” x 5”, Italian blue ice alabaster, steel, granite base, $800
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Peace, 15”x12”x12”, Selenite (the metaphysical 7th Chakra Stone), Colorado sandstone base, $800
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K'un: A remnant of my hippie days in the 70's when I lived on communes in Mill Valley and Vermont, my tattered copy of the I Ching still inspires me. Hexagram 20, K'uan, has a double meaning: Contemplation is one, and the second, a tower typical of ancient China...these towers, on mountains, served as both a viewing platform and a landmark.
My sculpture is designed to shine an overhead light thru the hole onto the small ledge, illuminating a treasured icon. It's a shrine.
Cosmic Seed: This came about in the spring of 2016, a nice narrow piece of Italian blue ice alabaster, with steel pegs for visual impact. Guess I was contemplating seeds, spring, the cosmos.
"Peace" evolved after a lovely Mexican stone mason whom we met in Baja, Don Manuel, gifted me with this slab of selenite. Don Manuel and his wife run a small coffee shop/museum, south of Ciudad Insurgentes about an hour, on the hill not far from an onyx quarry. Please stop in if you drive down Highway 1, to view his amazing collection of archeological artifacts, have a cup of coffee, buy a shark's tooth, and purvey our blessings...they are getting quite old. He has a giant shark's tooth from a prehistoric shark on display. Good people.
My sculpture is designed to shine an overhead light thru the hole onto the small ledge, illuminating a treasured icon. It's a shrine.
Cosmic Seed: This came about in the spring of 2016, a nice narrow piece of Italian blue ice alabaster, with steel pegs for visual impact. Guess I was contemplating seeds, spring, the cosmos.
"Peace" evolved after a lovely Mexican stone mason whom we met in Baja, Don Manuel, gifted me with this slab of selenite. Don Manuel and his wife run a small coffee shop/museum, south of Ciudad Insurgentes about an hour, on the hill not far from an onyx quarry. Please stop in if you drive down Highway 1, to view his amazing collection of archeological artifacts, have a cup of coffee, buy a shark's tooth, and purvey our blessings...they are getting quite old. He has a giant shark's tooth from a prehistoric shark on display. Good people.
10. Kim Roberts
Cutting Through Concept, 30” x 25”, Encaustic wax monotype with graphite on paper, 2017,$575
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The Heart of the Matter, 30” x 25”, Encaustic wax monotype on paper, 2018, $575
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Where Do We Go From Here, 31” x 25”, Encaustic wax monotype on paper, 2017, $575
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Art has always been my refuge - a sacred, secret place where I could step out of conceptual mind and explore the world of feelings and alternative realities. Growing up in DC, and later as a student in Paris and London, museums felt to me like places of worship, or sources of nourishment.
I’ve spent much of my adult life as an expat, teaching contemplative practice and creative process. Trained as a psychotherapist, I developed a passion for yoga and Buddhist meditation. I’ve lived and worked all over Asia for the past 15 years sharing these tools with others and learning from local artists and healers. Spending so much time in a foreign culture reinforces universal themes of what it means to be human, and also presents a unique view into our differences.
In my work, I contemplate these universal themes, and the mystery of human emotion. The visual world mirrors our internal landscape and provides insight into the stories taking shape there. My hope is to show how art helps us connect with something larger than ourselves and encourages us to realize that we are not alone. Both artist and viewer/experiencer are transformed in the interaction. Relationship is born.
Though I have been painting my whole life, when I recently discovered encaustic wax medium, my world changed overnight. The nature of the medium allows for a thrilling array of possibilities.
I’ve spent much of my adult life as an expat, teaching contemplative practice and creative process. Trained as a psychotherapist, I developed a passion for yoga and Buddhist meditation. I’ve lived and worked all over Asia for the past 15 years sharing these tools with others and learning from local artists and healers. Spending so much time in a foreign culture reinforces universal themes of what it means to be human, and also presents a unique view into our differences.
In my work, I contemplate these universal themes, and the mystery of human emotion. The visual world mirrors our internal landscape and provides insight into the stories taking shape there. My hope is to show how art helps us connect with something larger than ourselves and encourages us to realize that we are not alone. Both artist and viewer/experiencer are transformed in the interaction. Relationship is born.
Though I have been painting my whole life, when I recently discovered encaustic wax medium, my world changed overnight. The nature of the medium allows for a thrilling array of possibilities.
11. Robin Ross
Rock Creature in the No Day, 21”x29” sheet, 30”x40”, frame, mixed media on cotton paper, $900
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Ancient Floater, 14”x26” sheet, 30”x40”, frame, mixed media on cotton paper,$750
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Rock Creature in the No Day, 21”x29” sheet, 30”x40”, frame, mixed media on cotton paper, $900
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a moony reality as i paint a stormy desert red with fire.
time passes and the paintings change often, from red sand to white and from death to life. from airlessness gasping to a beauty beyond breath.
this awakens.
when the sky is not afire and stillness sets in, am i here.
time passes and the paintings change often, from red sand to white and from death to life. from airlessness gasping to a beauty beyond breath.
this awakens.
when the sky is not afire and stillness sets in, am i here.
12. Winter Ross
White Sands, 30”x20” acrylic and oil on masonite, $1200
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MoonSpring, acrylic and oil on masonite, 30”x24”, $1200
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My work usually tells a story, or several at the same time. If you look at "White Sands" awhile you will hear the archetypal stories or maybe a unique one of your own. Ask questions like: "What is the historical legacy of White Sands? Is that burst of light a sunset, sunrise or a mushroom cloud? What things does a serpent symbolize? Does the woman's stance remind you of a renaissance painting? Eve? Venus? Why is she leaving her body? What is her relationship to the snake? What do the tracks in the sand tell you?
“MoonSpring” comes from a visionary experience at Valley View Hot Springs. It could be described as a nature spirit in her “church”, offering the magic of the night. As a shamanic practitioner and Pagan, it’s not unusual for me envision the elementals.
In “The Conversation”, a sojourner consults her spirit guide in the Lower World. Thanks for looking long enough to hear the stories. Giclee prints are available in any size. Contact me at: www.CeremonialVisions.com
“MoonSpring” comes from a visionary experience at Valley View Hot Springs. It could be described as a nature spirit in her “church”, offering the magic of the night. As a shamanic practitioner and Pagan, it’s not unusual for me envision the elementals.
In “The Conversation”, a sojourner consults her spirit guide in the Lower World. Thanks for looking long enough to hear the stories. Giclee prints are available in any size. Contact me at: www.CeremonialVisions.com
13. Verena Schwarz
LumEnsclence Calling, Triptych #1, #2, #3, 30”x10” each, Oil and Wax, 2017, $990 (not sold individually)
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Pathways 2, 30"x40", Mixed Media, 2014, NFS
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“LumEnscIence Calling” continues the “Celebrating Spiritual Diversity” Series
(see verenaschwarz.com) in a more abstract form, where symbolism that is culturally and historically specific is distilled to universal and time-transcending shapes floating in space. Color is still used according to their vibrational quality and Crestone is yet again the underlying and overarching inspiration for the artistic expression of the spiritual experience and content.
"Pathways 2" represents a type of custom work Verena Schwarz has created for friends and family members over the past years. Individual and personalized elements of a (spiritual) life's journey are integrated in a predominantly abstract landscape. Commissions are available upon request. Please contact Verena at verena@verenaschwarz.com for further information.
(see verenaschwarz.com) in a more abstract form, where symbolism that is culturally and historically specific is distilled to universal and time-transcending shapes floating in space. Color is still used according to their vibrational quality and Crestone is yet again the underlying and overarching inspiration for the artistic expression of the spiritual experience and content.
"Pathways 2" represents a type of custom work Verena Schwarz has created for friends and family members over the past years. Individual and personalized elements of a (spiritual) life's journey are integrated in a predominantly abstract landscape. Commissions are available upon request. Please contact Verena at verena@verenaschwarz.com for further information.
14. Jennifer Thomson
A Doorway, 30”x30”, mixed medium, $2,000
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Winter Wind, 30”x30” mixed medium, $2000
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The ideal of my art is to create in the viewer the feeling of having encountered something alive; a composition of color and form that is not still, but that lives and breathes and reaches out to invite the viewer to experience its hidden source of life akin to the human heart.
15. Allison Wonderland
Fearless Crow, 6'x3'x3', mixed media,$1500
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A Threshold Guardian, 5'x3'x3', mixed media, $1500
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Nesting, 6'x3'x3', mixed media, $1500
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My spiritual journey is a continuous creative pilgrimage, seeking and sharing meaningful relationships grounded in real time and space. The studio is my temple, artmaking my sacred practice; communing and actively engaging the mysteries through the vitality of the organic materials. This practice requires courage and vulnerability, patience and persistence. It has a life of its own. Although I never know exactly how or when Grace will breathe Her magic into the work, I have discovered how worth it it is, to keep at it in the studio, to be ready for Her. I feel that true art has its own unique lifeforce; imbuing and expressing a vitality that has the power to move our souls. True art affects us, nourishes our need for genuine connection, and continues to inform and enrich our lives long after we've encountered the art. My mythical figures are sculpted from the branches, plant fibers and clays that I have gathered by hand from my local surroundings. These life size works reflect and respond to our human scale and shapes. They stand directly on the ground, inviting intimacy with viewers, welcoming an opportunity to feel the sacred mysteries of fellowship.
16. SD Youngwolf
Kanati and the Wolves, 30”x24”, oil on canvas, $1200
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Shamanic Reindeer, 18”x21'x11”, gourd, acrylic, stones, aspen branches, POR
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Uktena Gourd, 12”x16”, $1200
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I believe that one of our greatest gifts is the creative imagination, and it is the most important part of my artistic explorations. As an artist, I have been greatly influenced by my Cherokee heritage, my immersion in Indigenous culture, and world travels. My major mediums are oil painting, pastel, gourd art, and mask making. I have shown and won numerous awards at Native American art shows across the country. My hope is that my art will speak to the viewer's sense of wonder and connection with Earth and Spirit.
