Galaudet Gallery presents
East Meets West Art Exhibit Catalog
Part Four of the My Medicine Art Series:
Place the rising star in the east into your heart —Mircea Eliade
East Meets West Art Exhibit Catalog Galaudet Gallery
Galaudet Gallery
presents
Part Four of the My Medicine Art Series:
East
Meets
West
Galaudet Gallery Published by Galaudet Gallery Publishing 2223 West Hubbard Chicago, Illinois 60612 & 618 South Farwell Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 715-513-9994 galaudetgallery@gmail.com @ http://galaudetgallery.wix.com/ggllc Galaudet Gallery copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved Organized and Designed by Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski
Published for Part Four of the My Medicine Art Show: East Meets West Art Exhibit Held at Galaudet Gallery, EC, WI June 18—September 18, 2017 Participating Organizations Galaudet Gallery Mike’s Building and Construction Jules Heffe Inc All My Relations Sundance Memorial Nature Fund, Inc. Galaudet Gallery Publishing Participating Individuals Michael Milewski—Galaudet Gallery Artist Portfolio Day Vicki Milewski—Chakra Talk Tim Wang—Life Coach Speaks Participating Artists Izzy Anderson Krzysztof Bobrowski Emma Connolly Alex Grey Oscar Howe Farah Husain William H. Jackson C.W. Leadbeater Susan Loy Taylor Maroney Vicki Milewski Q Samara Rosen Erin Schalk Marciana Scott Andy Warhol Edward Warner Zixin Zhang
Galaudet Gallery’s My Medicine Art Series curates art that has the power to heal and aid in self discovery and discovery of worlds beyond our day to day lives. Great art transports the viewer to another place and time, another space and moment, a new way of seeing life, an affirmation of life. The curators wish to thank Oscar Howe for his amazing art and his belief in the powerful medicine art holds and transmits.
East Meets West Art Exhibit Part Four of the My Medicine Art Series Artists Izzy Anderson, San Antonio, Texas Artist Krzysztof Bobrowski, Warszawa, Poland Artist Emma Connolly, Wivenhoe, Essex, England Artist Taylor Maroney, Lakeville, Massachusetts Artist Erin Schalk, Euless/Dallas, Texas Artist Zixin Zhang, Chicago, Illinois Artist Oscar Howe, American Artist Vicki Milewski, Thorp, Wisconsin Artist William H. Jackson, American Artist Samara Rosen, Houston, Texas Artist Marciana Scott, Newport Beach, California Artist Farah Husain, Twickenham, United Kingdom Artist C.W. Leadbeater, American Theosophist Edward Warner, American Illustrator Alex Grey, American Visionary Artist Susan Loy, Bedford County, Virginia Artist Andy Warhol , American Artist
East Meets West Art Exhibit Part Four of the My Medicine Art Show Exhibition Catalog Contents For Your Consideration East Meets West: Endings and Beginnings Michael Milewski The Essay East Meets West: Liberation of the Next Frontier Part One: Mystical Soundings of Inner Echoes Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski The Frontier Artists Artists creating the Next Frontier experience Krzysztof Bobrowski Emma Connolly William H. Jackson Susan Loy Taylor Maroney Vicki Milewski Erin Schalk Andy Warhol Zixin Zhang The Essay East Meets West: Liberation of the Next Frontier Part Two: Exploring the Liberated Next Frontier Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski
East Meets West Art Exhibit Part Four of the My Medicine Art Show Exhibition Catalog Contents Continued
The Liberation Artists Artists who Liberate the Next Frontier Marciana Scott Samara Rosen Izzy Anderson Farah Husain Vicki Milewski Alex Grey C.W. Leadbeater Edward Warner The Essay East Meets West: Liberation of the Next Frontier Part Three: Exploring the Liberators of the Next Frontier Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski My Medicine Art Series: A Summary The Liberator and the Frontier: Oscar Howe
Liberation occurs when‌.the Spirit regains its original freedom ― Mircea Eliade
For Your Consideration: East Meets West: Endings and Beginnings Michael Milewski
“Thus the desire for” prosperity “and the love of wilderness freedom drew the frontier ever onward.” ― Fredrick Jackson Turner
For Your Consideration: East Meets West Art Exhibit Endings and Beginnings Galaudet Gallery with its strong roots in the Arts & Craft Craftss Movement has been opening up art’s next frontier with emerging and professional artists from around the world. We want to thank all the art collectors who have patronized Galaudet Gallery and this art exhibit because you are choosing to help shape the next frontier of art and you are assisting the artists who are working on this frontier. Your support made East Meets ts West a success. East meets West is the end of Galaudet Gallery’s four year My Medicine Art Series inspired by artist Oscar Howe’s ’s quote, “My art is my medicine.” The My Medicine art exhibit began our four year look at Eastern and Western philosophies by exploring a Native American perspective first; which to me is an unintentional blending of Eastern and Western Spirituality—it it stands uniquely apart and also as a bridge between two different cultures. The art exhibit East Meets West ends this first art series in Eau Claire, WI by featuring art as healing influenced by Eastern, Western, or a mixture of both. During the course of these four years years, Galaudet Gallery held some memorable events to help experience the next frontier: who can forget Xin Obaid’s Chinese-Gong Chinese Fu- Tea Ceremony which means “making ing tea with skill” using Pu'er tea from the Yunnan province in China where Xin grew up in in; a celebration of the summer solstice with a Sadhana experience ce which encourages conscious choices choices; lectures like healer and tai chi teacher Tim Wang sharing his knowledge of Shiatsu/Acupress Shiatsu/Acupressure ure Massage and life coaching; artist a Vicki Milewski discussing the chakras; workshops like my prayer tie ceremonies and a singing bowl meditation and an example of the music we had is Rita Simon playing and talking about seven different Native American flutes. These are jjust ust a few of the many wonderful events we held that we kept free and open to the public so everyone could enjoy. I am happy to introduce this beautiful catalog for the East Meets West art exhibit which brought together fresh art from talented professional and emerging artists from around the corner and around the world. It was like opening a present when each juried art piece arrived. All of the art had a presence and contained the distinct voice of each artist like British Artist Farah Husain, whose swirling graffiti colors take your breath away or California Artist Marciana Scott’s use of mixed media that brings her elegant pieces to life, or Wisconsin Artist Vicki Milewski’s work that has the ability to transport you into beauty, hope and endlesss possibilities and the rest of the talented artists contained within this catalog who I’m m sure wer will see more from in the future. We also pay tribute to more than these artist but also to the support of the community that has found us here in Eau Claire and appreciates art and embraces our vision. This may be the ending of My Medicine Art Series; but it is just the beginni beginning ng of bigger and bolder things in the next frontier. Have a Gala-day!
Michael Milewski,, Curator and Co Co-Owner of Galaudet Gallery
The Essay East Meets West: Liberation of the Next Frontier Part One: Mystical Soundings of Inner Echoes Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski
The emotive power of the frontier symbol conveys a sense of mission - an unknown region needing to be settled. — Adrienne Kolb and Lillian Hoddeson
Liberation of the Next Frontier Part One: Mystical Soundings of Inner Echoes For Galaudet Gallery’s fourth installment of the My Medicine Art Series, East Meets West, both the judges for this juried show and its curators worked with diverse ideas to inform their selecting and curating of this ground breaking exhibit. Oscar Howe continued to be the foundational inspiration in his belief that art is medicine. It is with much respect for his works and their meanings that all involved express regard. The second inspiration for East Meets West has been Mircea Eliade’s book Yoga: Immortality and Freedom. Judges and curators used Eliade’s research into the origin of yoga and its concepts as a spring board to investigate archaic philosophies. Eliade seeks out the original frontiers of yogic thought collecting its source material to find the characteristics which have been most effective in healing and transforming life. One of Eliade’s theses is that yoga has been the foundation of most Eastern spiritual practices. The third inspirations flow from Fredrick Jackson Turner’s speech/book The Frontier in American History which states that the American frontier defined American identity as “the West”—free, open land with potential. This American identity creates individuals who change roles as the frontier changes eventually forming communities. When the U.S. Census closed the frontier in 1890, Turner asked “What happens next?” “How does the loss of frontier affect American identity?” Adrienne Kolb and Lillian Hoddeson answer Turner’s questions in their 1992 speech about Fermilab, A New Frontier in the Chicago Suburbs: Settling Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 1963-1972 by. These authors utilized Turner’s frontier thesis in order to create a “frontier image” of the scientific exploration of particle physics as a new frontier for the mind. Both Eliade’s yoga and Turner’s frontier create a new person, in effect liberating people into a new way of being. While yoga liberates from suffering and reincarnation by showing the illusionary state of physical reality which is foundational to Eastern spiritual pursuits; the frontier liberates from convention and poverty of space by creating an individual free to choose any life they want which is central to Western thinking. Seeing these ideas through the Fermilab speech informs the path of this essay since it is our thesis that frontiers are being made each time original ideas are brought into cultural consciousness. Open, free land is just one manifestation of frontier just as a single work of art may contain a frontier as well. The presence of such frontier artworks can liberate the frontier idea—making it break open into a new way of thinking about frontiers. Art genres, art collections, single pieces of art can be seen as the next frontiers which can create another dimension to the aesthetic experience—the experience of the frontier within a piece of art—the open, free exchange of ideas which can liberate. i
But the larger part of what has been distinctive and valuable in America's contribution to the history of the human spirit has been due to this nation's peculiar experience in extending its type of frontier into new regions —Fredrick Jackson Turner
The Frontier Artists Artists creating the Next Frontier experience
Krzysztof Bobrowski Warszawa, Poland Artist Artist Statement The east meets west always has been core Line, according to which my Art was created and systematically development. The inspiration from Buddhism and Taoism has been combined with Judaism and Christianity, and finally Ontological Chakras met creating my art. Born ‌. to paint and create. Educated in a country between the West and the East, the artist was influenced by dissonance of the two worlds. Broad education injected intellectual depth and spiritual experiences embellished it. The artist unites different contradictive rhythms, aggressive expression of drawings, nostalgic slash of portraits and suggestive intenseness of the conceptual art. The artist was inspired by various art civilizations: glamour and nostalgia of Italian art, furiousness of Spanish art and reflection of oriental art. The pieces of art have been created in different techniques like drawings in pencil or Indian-ink, pastel, oil and acrylic painting as well as water-color.
Detail of East Meets West
East Meets West 1
Krzysztof Bobrowski East Meets West 1 (2017) 19 ¾”” X 27 ½” Acrylic Painting
Emma Connolly, British Artist Artists Statement My work explores the theme of the internal body and the beauty of organic form. I primarily work in oils and watercolour, the oils give a depth in colour and an abstraction of form, whereas the watercolours have a fragility and delicacy to them. My work is influenced by scientific diagrams of the human skeleton, medical journals, the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and animal carcasses. The intricacies of the internal workings of a body form a jigsaw of shapes which I can manipulate into an abstracted plane. I am preoccupied with abstracting and simplifying the complex internal workings of both human and animal bodies. Working closely with anatomical studies and scientific animal dissections informs my work academically as well as giving me visual reference material. My current series ‘Skin and Bone’ is a collection of oil paintings and watercolours, all of varying sizes. My work is now beginning to evolve into the Organ Flowers series, looking at organic forms that have floral aesthetics. http://www.emmaconnollyart.com/
mmaconnolly49@yahoo.co.uk
Detail of Skin and Bone #7
Skin and Bone #7
Emma Connolly Skin and Bone #7 (2016) 10� X 14� Oil Painting Mounted on bespoke white wooden frame
William H. Jackson, American Artist Statement about artist and artwork William Henry Jackson was a photographer on two separate survey expeditions into the American Southwest. Jackson’s Mancos Canyon photograph may perhaps be the first photograph of a cliff dwelling in southwestern Colorado. It shows what is now known as Two Story House. The two individuals in the photograph are Captain John Moss, guide for the Hayden Survey, and Ernest Ingersoll, reporter with the Hayden Survey. The Mancos Canyon is currently protected as part of the Ute Mountain Tribal Park and can only be reached by guided tour. The original photograph is fragile and rarely exhibited. This stunning reproduction is from the 1960’s and has a depth and clarity that can be attributed to the artistry of Jackson. Submitted by an art collector who stated, “The meeting of the East and West is not only about the two hemispheres on earth but also contained within the United States of America. We are lucky that people like Jackson photographed the Western part of the United States at a time when we could choose to preserve part of this wonderful area. Jackson was instrumental in securing Yellowstone’s status as our first National Park and his photos of the Mancos Canyon helped the Mesa Verde site next door to this canyon to also be preserved as a National Monument. When we look at health and healing from an Eastern and Western mindset we must also realize that we have a microcosm of this mindset here in the United States.”
Detail of Mancos Canyon Cliff Dwellings
Mancos Canyon Cliff Dwellings
William Henry Jackson Mancos Canyon Cliff Dwellings 8� X 10� Historical Photograph of Hayden Survey of 1874 Sepia Toned Print from original
Susan Loy, American Artist Artist Statement Susan Loy is an American artist, calligrapher, and author best known for her "Literary Calligraphy" watercolor paintings of the Language of Flowers including four poems by Emily Dickenson one for each season and its flowers. Summer Flowers is a Mandala inspired creation with hand painted summer flowers at its center. In a circle around that center are two shorter Dickinson poems and excerpts from two longer poems all chosen by Loy to represent her artwork titled Summer Flowers: http://www.literarycalligraphy.com/index.html From Part Four: Time and Eternity
Tho' my destiny be Fustian
LXXII … Was grateful for the roses In life’s fe’s diverse bouquet, Talked softly of new species
Roses of a steadfast summer In a steadfast land, Where no Autumn lifts her pencil – And no Reapers Stand!
To pick another day…. A sepal, petal, and a thorn by A sepal, petal, and a thorn Upon a common summer's morn— A flask of Dew—A Bee or two— A Breeze—a caper in the trees— And I'm a Rose!
Where Roses would not dare to go, From Part Three: Love XIII THERE came a day at summer’s full Entirely for me; I thought that such were for the saints, W Where revelations be. The sun, as common, went abroad, The flowers, accustomed, blew, As if no sail the solstice passed That maketh all things new…
Where Roses would not dare to go, What Heart would risk the way— — And so s I send my Crimson Scouts To sound the Enemy --
Summer Flowers
Susan Loy Summer Flowers (2014) 16” X 16” Paper and Ink
Taylor Maroney Lakeville, Massachusetts Artist Artwork Narrative: These are the most recent pieces that I completed in my ongoing Emotional Anatomy series. In this series, I am asking my subjects “Where Do You Feel It?� The It, is in reference to the emotional body, as in, where each person feels the most stress, dis-ease, illness, physical discomfort, dominant emotion, and/or energy build-up. I am then having each person place their hands on the area or areas of these feelings. This ritual acts as a simple form of hands-on healing, and the hands help create a visual bridge linking Mind and body. I let each person choose where they want to look, their wardrobe, and how much information they would like to share with me. The vulnerability necessary from my subjects allows for a gateway to connection. I paint these works with the intent of distance healing through my practice of Reiki. Biography: Taylor Maroney is a figurative oil painter from Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2012 with a BFA in Painting. Taylor paints the people in her life in order to connect with and honor them. She has participated in group and solo shows throughout New England and San Francisco. Along with practicing art, she studies alternative healing modalities. She is a certified Reiki practitioner as well as keeps an herbal garden to make her own teas and tinctures. In September she will be attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth as the Distinguished Arts Fellow working towards her MFA. Statement: I began painting people because I like to sit with them. There is an exchange that happens when I am painting a living, breathing person. In this circumstance, the act of creating isn't about me, it is about the dynamic between me and the other. Painting becomes my way of paying close attention to those I care about, a way to really see them, to really My current paintings portray my interest in the physical, emotional and energetic body. With this new work I am exploring and mapping the emotional anatomy of my subjects through the question, "Where Do You Feel It?" I then proceed to have them place their own hands on the areas of their body that hold the most emotion, trauma, or stress. This practice acts as a simple form of hands-on healing while demonstrating a visual link between psyche and soma.
Emotional Anatomy of Taylor
Taylor Maroney Emotional Anatomy of Taylor (2016) 24” X 36” Oil on Canvas
Vicki Milewski, American Artist Artwork Statement Before the Irises in Wilson Park 1 and 2 are paintings of the early spring leaves of a block long of iris plants in Wilson Park which is a block south of the gallery. In the spring everything is bursting with energy and expectancy. The irises are purple and have a different hue each year; however in 2017 it was their leaves which held the most inspiration. I would sit with them for hours listening to the breezes move them and measure their growth and coloration into the deep green that presentiments the blooms. Artwork Statement Balloon Tree at Phoenix Park is an experience captured from 2015 on the first 80 degree day in early May when I walked to Phoenix Park’s farmer’s market and saw a tree along the Chippewa River that appeared to have yellow balloons tied to it. But instead of balloons it was actually large, floating yellow buds that seemed to float against the warm spring air. I have yet to see this tree bloom again and I never saw these bloom open so for me the experience is not just one of rejoicing in warm weather but in a moment that is forever stilled in my mind, that moment of right before blooming and floating on warm air. These Irises and tree are from my Eau Claire Collection which is inspired by the are around Eau Claire, Wisconsin especially around the downtown which holds Galaudet Gallery. There are specific trees, bushes, flowers and spaces that are filled with potential and inspirational moments. Eau Claire is usually said to mean “Clear Water” but it also has a translation of “Enlightened” when written as one word eauclaire. Biography Vicki Milewski is a fifth generation American Artist working through Abstract Experientialism with oil paintings, works on paper, photography, film, words and music. Her art is internationally collected and exhibited and her music for choirs and solo piano is nationally performed. Vicki is also a published writer of articles, essays and poems; her book A White River Valley is just completed. Artist Statement: My work exposes reality for what it is: an experience we all share in making. Experiences of love, freedom, truth and community are mixed into my paints and spread over canvas or sharpened on a pencil tip to abstract each experience into color. I paint, draw, construct artist books, compose sacred choral music and solo piano songs, I make short films and create installations. My work involves love found in freedom, compassion found in action and joy as a way of life. As an artist, I seek to understand our world, life and love through my artwork with freedom, truth, family and community as my foundation http://vickimilewski.wixsite.com/vmartist
vickimilewski@gmail.com
Balloon Tree at Phoenix Park
Vicki Milewski Balloon Tree at Phoenix Park (2017) 16” X 20” Photographic Print of Mixed Media Original
Before the Irises in Wilson Park 1
Vicki Milewski Before the Irises in Wilson Park 1 (2017) 16� X 20� Acrylic Paint on Canvas
Before the Irises in Wilson Park 2
Vicki Milewski Before the Irises in Wilson Park 2 (2017) 16� X 20� Acrylic Paint on Canvas
Erin Schalk, Euless/Dallas, Texas Artist Brief Artist Biography: Erin Schalk lived in Okinawa, Japan from 2010 to 2013. There, she became involved in the local artistic community, participating in various island-wide exhibitions including Inspire Japan to benefit the victims of the devastating March 11th, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Okiten: a juried event which has been held annually in Okinawa since the end of WWII, and exhibitions through the Okinawa Prefectural Museum of Art. While in Japan, she lived and worked within the communities of Okinawa City, Awase and Ginowan, as well as visited everything from local, hole-in-the-wall galleries to art centers in Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei. Currently, Schalk is an adjunct professor of Art and holds degrees in Studio Art as well as East Asian Studies. In addition, she is a MFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is expected to graduate in 2017. Submitted Artwork Narrative: This series of drawings is inspired by Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine, written by Shigehisa Kuriyama and originally published in 1999. These works are created using handmade kozo paper made from traditional Japanese paper-making processes. With pen and ink, I draw interconnecting lines and shapes that are rooted in both the imagery that comes from my subconscious mind, as well as abstracted versions of various close-up photographs of foliage and human muscles. These diverse images merge together to create new, hybridized forms that reference the interconnectedness — not only of the human body and nature — but also an individual’s inextricable relationship to the surrounding environment. Interconnectedness is further referenced by the hand spun wool fibers which are attached to the back of each drawing to create an all-over network. Lastly, the entire drawing is coated in a layer of translucent encaustic wax to create a physical “skin” which surrounds the image, conjuring associations of the protective nature of human skin, as well as its fragility. Brief Artist Statement: My art is influenced by traditionally Eastern philosophies of the unity of opposites. I seek to work in the realms between chaos and order, heaviness and lightness, compression and expansion, and suffering and peace. These qualities are manifested through a two dimensional, abstract visual language involving line, composition structure and color. Overlapping and intertwined lines reference entanglement or interconnectivity, whereas pale and luminescent colors that are combined with delicate, all-over textures allude to harmony and tranquility. Within the entire body of my work, varying levels of emphasis upon opposites create a potential for the viewer to experience transitions through diverse emotional states. www.erinschalk.com
eschalk@saic.edu
Interconnectedness I
Erin Schalk Interconnectedness I (2015) 21 ½ ” X 25 ½” Drawing / ink, wax and wool on Japanese Kozo Paper in Custom White Frame
Interconnectedness II
Erin Schalk Interconnectedness II (2015) 17 ½” X 21 ¾ “ Drawing / ink, wax and wool on Japanese Kozo Paper in Custom White Frame
Interconnectedness III
Erin Schalk Interconnectedness III (2015) 17 ½” X 21 ¾ “ Drawing / ink, wax and wool on Japanese Kozo Paper in Custom White Frame
Andy Warhol, American Artist Statement about artist and artwork Chanel No 5 Red/Pink comes from Warhol’s "Ads" series based on popular advertising campaigns and logos in American culture. Chanel No. 5, created by Ernest Beaux for Coco Chanel in 1921, became a product synonymous with sophistication and luxury, two qualities Warhol hoped to instill with his work. The rich hues of blue, red, and gold, and green brings this simple rectangular bottle to life. Before Andy Warhol was a worldfamous pop artist, he worked as a freelance advertisement illustrator, sketching images of women’s clothing, shoes and jewelry. Warhol’s beginnings as a product marketer heavily influenced his artistic career, in which he glamorized and transformed everyday objects, like soup cans and cleaning supplies, into works of art. So in the 1980’s when Feldman Fine Arts commissioned Warhol to create his “ADS” series, Warhol was in his element. The Chanel No. 5 bottle is one out of the ADS series that is especially close to Warhol’s past as an ad illustrator.
Collection of statements from Andy Warhol from three different interviews in the 1960’s Pop art is for everyone. I don’t think art should be only for the select few, I think it should be for the mass of American people and they usually accept art anyway During the last century in particular, the Machine Age with its mass production procedures has seemingly required specializations which have brought about an unfortunate divergence in work and philosophy of the individual producer and the artist. Yet artists and business men, today as formerly, fundamentally have much in common and can contribute the more to society as they come to complement their talents. Each has within him the undying desire to create, to contribute something to the world, to leave his mark upon society Business art is the step that comes after Art. I started as a commercial artist, and I want to finish as a business artist. After I did the thing called “art” or whatever it’s called, I went into business art. I wanted to be an Art Businessman or a Business Artist. Being good in Business is the most fascinating kind of art
Chanel No 5 Red/Pink
Andy Warhol Chanel No 5 Red/Pink (1985) 22” X 29” Screenprint
Zixin Zhang, Chinese Artist Artist Statement In my opinion, the artist should have keen eyes in order to reveal the truth of life. My idea of artist that I am working out is to be a visual magician with my particular aesthetic perspective and to represent the world in a unique way that people usually neglect. I hope to combine my aesthetic practice in painting and sculpture with the process of film and video making. Constantly impelling myself to enhance my artistic techniques, I aim to enter my dreams of future to be a professional artist and film maker. I believe that by persistent endeavor, I will be able to undertake the social responsibility through my artwork and realize my dream as a visual communicator. Even in the darkest days in my life, I always believed that art would lead me to somewhere unconstrained and unspoiled, and the power of visual art could communicate in the worldwide perspective. Endowed with the influence to make some changes, I am willing to devote myself into exploring it, and use it to elevate the aesthetic values, hopefully make the world a better place. Artwork Narrative Inspired by the Eastern and Western cultures, from traditional calligraphy and paintings to architecture and medicine, I create the piece Flesh and Sprit that aim to explore about the essence of development and how the different culture blend with each other. The idea of harmony with nature underlies many aspects of Chinese tradition, of which that influence me the most is the way vigorous and forceful calligraphy effortlessly mix with my western painting that created unconventional grace of its own. That experience has lately become the motivation that impels me to explore the powerful nature of visual images.
Detail of Flesh and Spirit
Flesh and Spirit
Zixin Zhang Flesh and Spirit (2017) 30” X 30” Acrylic on Canvas
The Essay East Meets West: Liberation of the Next Frontier Part Two: Exploring the Liberated Next Frontier Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski …to work on one’s consciousness is not to isolate oneself from the real…or lose oneself in dreams and hallucinations…it is (instead) to make direct contact with life, to force one’s way into the concrete… --Mircea Eliade
Liberation of the Next Frontier Part Two: Exploring the Liberated Next Frontier
This catalog’s essay “Liberation of the Next Frontier” was first inspired by the over 250 pieces of art that were submitted for the judges to consider including in Galaudet Gallery’s East Meets West art exhibit. The judges had to make difficult decisions due to the high quality art submitted. Once the curators starting designing the exhibit they were inspired by the art and also drew upon Galaudet Gallery’s third year of their My Medicine Art Series called The New Medicine where artists and thinkers made it clear that what has been known as “the East” and “the West” is no longer sharply divided. Artworks comingled ideas and explorations from both hemispheres using what they needed to create art. The judges and curators for East Meets West saw that the same holds true for the artists who submitted works here—there is no clear delineation between “the East” and “the West”; subsequently, there is now a global sense which still retains a sense of place and time not nationalistic but more an acknowledgement that a certain artwork was created in a certain place. It is in this acknowledgement that the next frontier can be seen—one where art-making is not relegated to a specific place or part of a certain genre. This has been going on for some time as the international art expos and biennials will attest; however, the art in East Meets West not only crosses hemispheric boundaries to use forms and ideas— this art makes these forms its own. So saying a Buddha under a bodhi tree painted by an artist from California is as authentic as a needle point piece from Tibet showing the same scene. The next frontier being explored is one that exists in the realm of ideas and form, of color and meaning and is not stealing someone else’s idea but instead creating a space where the ownership of these ideas is now a global experience instead of hemispheric. This may challenge some people who would say that there is cultural appropriation taking place or that graffiti art made by an English artist may not be called such since the place of making is not from the origins of this street art. Instead the judges and curators theorize that this next frontier of space is more akin to the atmosphere which surrounds the earth—we all share it, survive beneath and within it, it is not owned by anyone. A volcano that explodes in one hemisphere will impact the rest of the hemispheres just as the philosophy of Nagarjuna can impact anyone who takes the time to understand. It is with these ideas that we embark on the essay for the fourth part of the My Medicine Art Series with the art exhibition East Meets West. The exhibit title of East Meets West sought to inform artists that both hemispheres would be investigated as we wrapped up a study of art as medicine in the My Medicine
Art Series. Meanings both iconic and hemispheric would be entertained such as a 21 st Century understanding of manifest destiny and the idea of the frontier that has become increasingly important as more cultures aspire to live in an American/Western cultural experience even though they have little chance of experiencing a sense of frontier which is foundational to building the Western Cultural experience. Judges also valued a more considered reading of the soteriological understandings found in many Eastern faiths with an attempt to get at original meanings; even though, there is little chance to experience the frontiers of thought which brought forward many Eastern spiritual tenets. Both these aims may appear impossible since both these frontiers are closed, commoditized and repackaged to the point of no longer resembling the originals; consequently, in raising these ideas into the realm of symbolic thought and supporting the creative response of artists to the idea of healing the judges and curators have begun to see these frontiers liberated. East Meets West is a historically significant exhibit in that the major driving forces of culture in the world today rely on how liberation and frontier are defined and then used. Just as last year’s exhibit The New Medicine brought out a new way to view medicine that seeks to join both eastern and western healing techniques, East Meets West goes several steps forward from this in positing that it is a new “Liberation of the Frontier” which is driving cultural forces. The judges and curators thank the talented and visionary artists who submitted work for this show, it is their artworks which drew out these ideas and liberated frontiers. The Call for Art which went out simply stated: East Meets West is a juried art exhibit which looks at the differences and similarities between these two views on healing. Eastern healing has largely been seen as mystical and natural based on 1000’s of years of tradition and experience that at times has trouble incorporating new ideas. Western healing is seen as more scientific with strong roots in a body/mind focus that at times excludes any healing that is found “outside” the body. Galaudet Gallery sees both these systems as integral to 21st Century healing and that neither is restorative without the other. Globally this has been seen as a merging of these two traditions into a more personalized approach to medicine. The amazing art that was received has enlarged this vision to include our “Liberation of the Next Frontier” idea and a show that was so well received the gallery had to hold it over for 10 days so that the public could continue visiting and thinking over these ideas. Artists were grouped into two main categories of thought for placement and other curatorial concerns. The first group was called The Frontier Artists: Artists creating the Next Frontier experience and included the Following artists:
From Poland, Krzysztof Bobrowski states that he was “Educated in a country between the West and the East, the artist was influenced by dissonance of the two worlds” This dissonance shows in his acrylic painting East Meets West 1 as a surrealist frontier with cubist forms and the soft gentle lines of Asian art. It is the merging of these attributes which creates a frontier experience with Bobrowski’s art as he challenges genres while using their forms to create his art. English artist Emma Connolly “work explores the theme of the internal body and the beauty of organic form.” This has led her to dig deep— researching da Vinci, anatomical studies and scientific diagrams to inspire her work. Her oil painting Skin and Bones #7 balances abstraction and fragility in paints and watercolors with science and feeling balanced by her explorations of anatomical structures. This balance brings the frontier experience inside as Connolly’s use of color, tone and texture merge to communicate life. Powerful enough to be on a wall by itself, Skin and Bones #7 had many people return to it before leaving the gallery. One such person commented how the artist made white wood frame made her think of a garden with the wonderful abstractions dancing inside the gate, this then led her to surmise that her life is like a garden and she was going to “start dancing inside and outside my gates.” William H. Jackson is an unlikely artist for a juried show set in the 21 st Century since he photographed the actual American frontier of the late 19 th Century. But the inclusion of his photo Mancos Canyon Cliff Dwellings is appropriate since it is Jackson’s work alongside painter Thomas Moran who brought the frontiers of Yellowstone and Mesa Verde to the attention of the eastern part of the still new U.S.A. and secured these places as National Parks and Monuments so that a 21st Century American can still hike into the wilderness of either and have a taste of the original frontier experience. Fredrick Jackson Turner may even suggest that it is the National Parks and other lands set aside to be open and free that can still inform the development of America’s identity. Susan Loy uses calligraphy, poetry and hand drawn flowers to produce a frontier experience that is as intellectual as it is emotional. The inclusion of her Summer Flowers art work in East Meets West shows the effect of a Buddhist Mandala structure merged with lines from several Emily Dickinson poems and Loy’s flowers drawn in the center of the Mandala—the place where the palace exists where all Mandala mediators seek to gain entrance. Loy uses the traditional Mandala symbolism of the four directions of the universe by placing lines from four different Dickinson poems in each
quadrant and lines from a fifth poem called Love wind around the center in several circles just as it should for a Mandala. These detailed observances of a very Eastern, Buddhist symbol interwoven with English text from a frontier poet like Dickenson clearly show the meeting of East Meets West and produces a frontier experience both in the reading of the poem in a Mandala way and upon gaining entrance to the palace of summer flowers. Taylor Maroney’s piece Emotional Anatomy created a curatorial dilemma since it held a forceful energy that made it difficult to witness. But once a wall with chakras and a Buddha sitting under a bodhi tree was established placing Emotional Anatomy adjacent to it made the piece lose its uneasiness and create a meditative repose that many people found revealing for their own issues and unfulfilled dreams. The vulnerability which Maroney talks about in her artist statement blossomed into strength and created a frontier curatorial experience in that part of the exhibit. Vicki Milewski is one of the foundational artists for the East Meets West exhibit because her work creates freedom and its resultant frontier experience through a perceptive articulation of color and form. Working with media as diverse as painting, writing and composing music, Milewski’s art was also the soundtrack for this exhibit with many of her solo piano pieces and trance dance material delighting gallery guests. Milewski’s Before the Irises in Wilson Park 1 and 2 produces an energy which issues from reflection and action—just as she spent hours discerning the Iris leaves intrigued by their captivating power so these hours are built into these paintings making the tenderness of early springtime foliage have the same impact as the wonderful blossoms that would appear in the summer. Milewski’s Balloon Tree at Phoenix Park stood in for the Buddha’s bodhi tree and created another powerful frontier moment surrounded by chakras and light. Erin Schalk’s Interconnectedness I, II and III displayed her explorations with opposites like chaos and order which can “create a potential for the viewer to experience transitions through diverse emotional states.” It is these transitions that create the next frontier experiences East Meets West provided. Schalk’s kozo paper pen and ink works created frontier experiences that had a lightness contrasted by the concrete ink lines. Her use of a translucent encaustic wax emulsion created a hardness that belied
the softness of the blended inks lying just within the fibers of the kozo paper. Schalk considered this emulsion as creating “a physical ‘skin’ which surrounds the image, conjuring associations of the protective nature of human skin, as well as its fragility. As with all of our next frontier experiences, opposites like protection and fragility create the tension that leads to the creation or recognition of authenticity. Andy Warhol is another artist one might not think to find in an art exhibit examining East Meets West but his irreverent use of cultural icons has transcended hemispheric boundaries and began the movement toward the next frontier experiences in concordance with viewing art. Warhol’s Chanel No 5 Red/Pink comes from Warhol’s "Ads" series and underlines his belief that artists and businessmen have “much in common and can contribute the more to society as they come to complement their talents” is a next frontier type statement which begins the unraveling of the pasat frontier so that the next frontier can be experienced. Zixin Zhang’s Flesh and Spirit was chosen as the first piece a visitor would see upon entering East Meets West because of the innocent energy it contained in “the idea of harmony with nature” which “underlies many aspects of Chinese tradition”. Zhang attributes her style to a of which that influence “forceful calligraphy” which creates an “unconventional grace of its own.” The colors and movement in Flesh and Spirit were enjoyable and created a nice threshold frontier experience.
Michael Milewski Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski
Alchemists consider matter not only “alive” but also “as a reservoir of sacred forces” matter like “minerals, metals and precious stones” but also more have more than an economic or social value “they incarnated cosmic forces and hence participated in the sacred.” —Mircea Eliade
The Liberation Artists Artists who Liberate the Next Frontier Artists creating the Next Frontier experience
Izzy Anderson San Antonio, Texas Artist Artist Statement When I was younger, I loved to sit at the piano for hours and get lost in music. It was my escape from reality. As I studied music in college, it became work. Music became stressful and was no longer carefree. Thus my art became my freedom. My art is my music. To create a visual concept of what music is, I used a surrealistic approach in my art. Through surrealism I find freedom in form, color and concept. Through this freedom I have escaped the boundaries which trapped me in my music. My artwork strives to answer the question: What is music to me? What do I see and feel when I hear music? Why do we listen to music and what emotions does music bring out of our hearts when we listen? Each new painting begins with the answer to one of those questions, a musical quote, or a musical event. I begin by manipulating the piano, or other musical instruments and symbols, to capture the concept in visual form. This is when I feel most alive; when my creative self sees music and my paintings can be heard in the mind of the viewer. Artwork narrative
Prescription for Pain Piano-lenol Tablets, 200 mg Pain Reliever See Label for more
100 coated caplets
Drug Facts Active IngredientPurposes Pianoforte 200 mg………………………………………..Pain Reliever Uses Relieves minor aches and pains Anxiety Stress Directions Safe for adults and children over the age of 2 Take 1 caplet every 4 to 6 hours while symptoms persist
Prescription for Pain
Izzy Anderson Prescription for Pain (2015) 18” x 24” Acrylic on Canvas
Farah Husain Twickenham, United Kingdom Artist Artwork Statement My Artwork conveys the evolution and healing of the soul by bringing into awareness the conscious and unconscious mind. Flowing freely without any drawings or plans it shows we are all part of one universal source energy which conspires to bring people, circumstances and events together for our greater good. I never use a pencil and all of my work is automatic, intuitive and instinctive. The third eye is the story of God protecting the universe, taking care of all and surrounding everything with love, the ultimate healing energy, and the other two paintings reflect being present to ourselves and the cosmic order of life, allowing our energy to flow so that we can meditate, reflect upon and recover from the challenges life gives us. The colours of the chakras in the artwork convey an aura of harmony and peace, drawing the viewer in to be still and marvel at the intricate patterns and designs and to stop for a moment and appreciate the beauty and restorative power of nature in our lives.
Detail of Third Eye
Third Eye
Farah Husain Third Eye (2015) 11 ¾” X 15 ¾” Mixed Media on Canvas
Farah Husain Twickenham, United Kingdom Artist
Artist Statement
My paintings are a mental and emotional expression of my soul on canvas. As an empath and psychic I incorporate organic shapes, mentally relaxing colours and fluent forms into my work to depict harmony, unity and to illustrate how everything is interconnected. Therapeutic colours build the foundation of my work and I exhibit my paintings as spiritual medicine and visual meditation. Influences include my practice of the Tarot and the alignment of chakras using crystals. I work with precision, combining both my Eastern heritage and Western upbringing to create a conglomerate of experimental pieces. My artwork is produced using acrylic paint, aerosol and ink. My vision is to impact as many people as possible with my art worldwide and to create a difference in the lives of others. I am particularly interested in inspiring young people as I am the CEO of Empowering youth, which works with young people in crisis.
Detail of Cosmic Energy
Cosmic Energy
Farah Husain Cosmic Energy (2016) 11 ¾” X 15 ¾” Mixed Media on Canvas
Charles Webster Leadbeater And
Edward Warner Artists Biography Charles Webster Leadbeater ( 1854 – 1934) was a member of the Theosophical Society and author on occult subjects like his book The Chakras. He has been credited with bringing the Chakras to the English speaking world, but during the time of the printing of the Chakras (1920’s) there were other books being translated about the Chakras. Leadebeater believed that chakras were seen in individual ways and the experience of seeing them and working with them was an individual experience. So saying, no two chakras were alike. Edward Warner (1879-1968) studied printing and commercial art at a British Polytechnic college where he learned the techniques of stone lithography, woodcut printing, etching, airbrush techniques and scraperboard. He illustrated Leadbeater’s book The Chakras and so the art that is included here is his work after Leadbeater explained what he had seen to Warner. Leadebeater states, “So far as I am aware the illustrations which I give in this book are the first attempt to represent them as they actually appear to those who can see them. Indeed, it is chiefly in order to put before the public this fine series of drawings by my friend the Rev. Edward Warner that I write this book, and I wish to express my deep indebtedness to him for all the time and trouble that he has devoted to them. I have also to thank my indefatigable collaborator.” Artwork Statement ( from the Preface to The Chakras) WHEN a man begins to develop his senses, so that he may see a little more than everybody sees, a new and most fascinating world opens before him, and the chakras are among the first objects in that world to attract his attention….The brilliant coloring and the rapid and incessant movement of the chakras bring them immediately under his observation, and he naturally wants to know what they are and what they mean. …let it be definitely understood that there is nothing fanciful or unnatural about the sight which enables some men to perceive more than others. It is simply an extension of faculties with which we are all familiar, and to acquire it is to make oneself sensitive to vibrations more rapid than those to which our physical senses are normally trained to respond. These faculties will come to everyone in due course of evolution, but some of us have taken special trouble to develop them now in advance of the rest, at the cost of many years of harder work than most people would care to undertake.
The Consciousness Chakras C.W. Leadbeater Inspired Chakras
Edward Warner Illustrator The Root Chakra (1927) Muladhara Chakra 11” X 14” An archival, museum grade giclee
C.W. Leadbeater Inspired Chakras
Edward Warner Illustrator The Spleen Chakra (1927) Svadhisthana Chakra 11” X 14” An archival, museum grade giclee
C.W. Leadbeater Inspired Chakras
Edward Warner Illustrator The Navel Chakra (1927) Manipura Chakra 11” X 14” An archival, museum grade giclee
The Consciousness Chakras C.W. Leadbeater Inspired Chakras
Edward Warner Illustrator The Heart Chakra (1927) Anahata Chakra 11” X 14” An archival, museum grade giclee
C.W. Leadbeater Inspired Chakras
Edward Warner Illustrator The Throat Chakra (1927) Visuddha Chakra 11” X 14” An archival, museum grade giclee
C.W. Leadbeater Inspired Chakras
Edward Warner Illustrator The Brow Chakra (1927) Ajna Chakra 11” X 14” An archival, museum grade giclee
The Consciousness Chakra
C.W. Leadbeater Inspired Chakras
Edward Warner Illustrator The Crown Chakra (1927) Sahasrara Chakra 11” X 14” An archival, museum grade giclee
Vicki Milewski American Artist Artist Statement After learning from B.K.S. Iyenger that many of my drawings were chakras I began to study them. Decades later I still study them. The first collection of chakras I have finished as oil paintings were of the Consciousness Chakras which are the chakras that most people who have heard of them know. The collection I am working on now are for the Ontological Chakras. Ontology is the study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, and was listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics in ancient Greece. The Ontological Chakras are the chakras above the conscious chakras. Each group of chakras has seven chakras and starts at the unconscious, moves through the conscious recognition of chakras and then m oves toward the Ontological Chakras which are beyond our current physical expression of reality but are connected to our spirits through knowledge of the chakras and in particular the crown chakra and the prana running through the nadis and into this chakra which then continues on into the Ontological Chakras. Here is a chart suggesting a corollary relationship between the Consciousness Chakras and the Ontological ones. This suggestion is meant for study only since each grouping of chakras is completely different than any other one, but when moving off terra firma it sometimes helps to have something familiar to begin with: http://vickimilewski.wixsite.com/vmartist Consciousness Chakras 7 shahasrara Crown Chakra 6 ajna Third Eye Chakra 5 visuddha Throat Chakra 4 anahata with the the Celestial Wishing Tree or Kalpataru Heart Chakra 3 manipura Solar Plexus Chakra 2 svadhisthana Sacral Chakra 1 muladhara Root Chakra
vickimilewski@gmail.com Ontological Chakras 7 satyaloka Heaven Chakra 6 tapaloka Burning Chakra 5 jnanaloka Final Decision Chakra 4 maharloka Sage Chakra 3 svarloka Tested Chakra 2 bhuvarloka Rest Chakra 1 burloka Earth Chakra
The Ontological Chakras
Vicki Milewski Looking at me Red The Burloka Chakra 11” X 14” Pastels on Dyed Archival Cotton Rag paper
Vicki Milewski Looking at me Gold The Bhuvarloka Chakra 11” X 14” Pastels on Dyed Archival Cotton Rag paper
Vicki Milewski Looking at me Purple The Svarloka Chakra 11” X 14” Pastels on Dyed Archival Cotton Rag paper
The Ontological Chakras
Vicki Milewski Looking at me White The Maharloka Chakra 11” X 14” Pastels on Dyed Archival Cotton Rag paper
Vicki Milewski Right Before Red The Jnanaloka Chakra 11” X 14” Pastels on Dyed Archival Cotton Rag paper
Vicki Milewski Wildly Colored The Tapaloka Chakra 10” X 15” Pastels on Dyed Archival Cotton Rag paper
The Ontological Chakras
Vicki Milewski The Apple’s in There Satyaloka Chakra 11” X 14” Pastels on Dyed Archival Cotton Rag paper
Samara Rosen Houston, Texas Artist Artist Statement Walking. Experiencing directly. Having a sensory overload. There is an awareness gained through the discovery and processing of the materials chosen. The making of the work is a typ typee of meditation. I am having an intimate experience with the source material. I am finding my way. Extractions of land. Records of impressions. Each moment is unique. The materials gathered on the walks have already begun to be converted back into the environment. nvironment. By separating the material from its environment, it serves as a trace and memory of what was once there. Chaos. Organization. Understanding. I see the individual characteristics that are present in the material and highlight it through particular ular arrangement. The material informs my exploration and manipulation. The processing of the material influences the form. This creates a cycle of connections, entanglements, and interconnectivity. Everything is living. Nothing is stable. Everything is iin n a constant state of flux.
Detail of Returned Breath
Returned Breath
Samara Rosen Returned Breath 11” X 11” Chinese Herbs
Samara Rosen Houston, Texas Artist Artist Biography Samara Rosen is from Houston, Texas and has received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2011 and her Masters of Fine Art from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2014, majoring in Fiber. In the year 2011-12 she was an artist-in-residence at Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design in Saint Louis, Missouri, where she also taught fiber classes to both adults and children. She is currently teach-ing art to young adults with disabilities in Houston, Texas. She has exhibited her art throughout the United States. Participated in “New Texas Talent XXI” at Craighead-Green Gallery in Dallas, Texas, “Craft Texas 2012” at Houston Center for Contempo-rary Craft, and received Honorable Mention in “Fantastic Fibers 2012” at Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, Kentucky. She currently has her work on view in “Experiencing Perspectives 2014-2015” at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Detail of Circulate
Circulate
Samara Rosen Circulate 4” diameter X 2” Chinese Herbs
Marciana Scott Newport Beach, California Artist Artist Statement An intuitive painter who works with varied combinations of oil paint, acrylic paint, fabric, sand, shells, crystals, gold leaf and other various elements. Each canvas has over 50 layers of paint; each coating of color carries a different vibration, meaning and healing essence. Sacred symbols, Feng Shui and Tibetan inspirations are imprinted on the numerous layers for the highest vibrations of enlightenment. The paintings are embedded with a variety of powerful energy crystals for life force intention‌and all art pieces are infused with healing energies of love. Artwork Details for Affirmation Abundance Abstract Painting- 65 layers of painted intentions of prosperity and abundance Feng Shui Buddha holding prosperity vase embedded crystals of kyanite, quartz, pearls, blue chalcedony, pyrite, gold leaf, amethyst, and turquoise.
Detail of Affirmation Abundance
Affirmation Abundance
Marciana Scott Affirmation Abundance 24” X 48” Acrylic, Oil and Mixed Media of Fabric, Gold Leaf and Crystals on Canvas
Marciana Scott Newport Beach, California Artist Artist Statement Beginning my journey of personal healing and rejuvenation of spirit became the portal to finding true self. Life experiences were the puzzle pieces that now made sense at this stage of my life. Cultivating understanding and grace; being connected to a higher source opened myself to exploring alternative ways of expressing creative intentions. My paintings now express my passion for Tibetan influences along with my 25 plus years of practicing Feng Shui principles. Exposing raw feelings and transmutation by emotions of love & happiness. Each art piece is set with intention of commitment to bringing closure to the past. Transforming the healing process to promote only the most auspicious feelings of abundance and well- being. Artwork Details for Intention Abstract Painting- 55 layers of healing intentions Tibetan lotus flower representing rebirth shells, pearls, sand, embedded crystals of kyanite, quartz, abalone, gold leaf, and numerology.
Detail of Intention
Intention
Marciana Scott Intention 18” X 36” Acrylic and Mixed Media of Fabric, Sand, Gold Leaf, Shells and Crystals on Canvas
Vicki Milewski, American Artist Sun Always Rises 1
Vicki Milewski Sun Always Rises 1 30” x 40” Acrylic on Canvas
Vicki Milewski, American Artist Sun Always Rises 1
Vicki Milewski Sun Always Rises 2 30” x 40” Acrylic on Canvas
The Essay East Meets West: Liberation of the Next Frontier Part Three: Exploring the Liberators of the Next Frontier Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski We always find some form of Yoga whenever the goal is experience of the sacred or the attainment of self mastery --Mircea Eliade
Liberation of the Next Frontier Part Three: Exploring the Liberators of the Next Frontier Galaudet Gallery’s exhibit East Meets West has made possible the idea of “Liberation of the Next Frontier” which not only joins ideas from Eliade and Turner with the wonderful art of this exhibit but it also poses the idea of what is next. To liberate is to free as Turner explains, …each frontier did indeed furnish a new field of opportunity, a gate of escape from the bondage of the past; and freshness, and confidence; and scorn of older society, impatience of its restraints and its ideas To liberate the frontier is to free it from past definitions tied to the “free land” of Turner’s frontier thesis or even the physical sense of frontier, but to bring it more in line with the authors of the Fermi Lab essay who write about frontier The frontier image, as used both by Turner and the physicists, speaks to the imagination. The emotive power of the frontier symbol conveys a sense of mission… Fermilab Associate Director, Stanley Livingston, said in 1968, “There is in mankind a driving urge to explore the unknown. In past ages much of this exploration was geographical - the search for new continents and new seas. In our generation the most challenging frontiers lie in the search for new knowledge about nature and about man… The geographical frontiers of the past have paved the way for this next frontier which goes beyond the concepts of conceptual art and begins to fashion original, meaningful ideas gathered from our searches for new knowledge about nature and humankind. So a liberation of the frontier is to allow frontier ideas a place in our creative pursuits and to liberate those pursuits through the use of the frontier mythology as a place to break the bonds of the past and enter fully into a new present that allows us to also break the bonds of our current human condition and move into a new way of life. There are artworks in East Meets West which provide images and experiences for this liberation to take place. Self taught artist Izzy Anderson’s Prescription for Pain is a surreal look at a musical prescription. Drugs have always been seen as illusionary liberators and Anderson’s twist to a prescription medicine bottle with a keyboard shows a true liberator—music— combined with another liberator—art. “Through surrealism” Anderson finds “freedom in form, color and concept” which are other liberators of the next frontier.
Farah Husain’s life mirrors her art. Husain’s art programs for young people in crisis are an outward projection of the inner work she does to empower her art and this world. Liberating the next frontier so that everyone can enjoy their life and create without restrictions is a part of the work Husain does which creates electrifying art that not only captures the attention but holds it as a truly liberating experience takes place. Both Husain’s Cosmic Energy and Third Eye work on both the surface resembling a graffiti influenced practice and also they are spontaneous creations seeped in a deeply meditative and reflective life. Husain characterizes her work as conveying “the evolution and healing of the soul by bringing into awareness the conscious and unconscious mind.” On the wall which greets all visitors from across the Tower Room, Charles Webster Leadbeater’s and Edward Warner’s Consciousness Chakras were placed opposite Vicki Milewski’s Ontological Chakras with each group having seven individual pieces which were placed going up towards the twelve foot ceiling. The consciousness chakras are found on the astral plane which exists around our physical bodies. The ontological chakras are found in the causal plane which is known as the plane of ideas or thoughts. Between these groupings Milewski’s Balloon Tree at Phoenix Park stood in for a bodhi tree and a statue of a seated Buddha was placed who is using the Bhumisparsha mudra, translated as the earth touching gesture. This is the moment of enlightenment for the Buddha when he asks the earth to bear witness to his enlightenment and dispel the illusions of Mara. Incorporating the Balloon Tree with these Eastern elements brings the theme of East Meets West into a next frontier experience sought by the curators. Placing Taylor Maroney’s piece Emotional Anatomy as a constant onlooker made this the most talked about space in the exhibit. Many people returned to the exhibit to visit this space, leave
flowers for the Buddha, meditate on their own or bring friends and family to see it. Good conversations about a multitude of topics took place in this space and brought about the next frontier experience easily and transformatively. Following is a simple way of looking at the Ontological Chakras: The Ontological Chakras: 7 Satyaloka The highest causal world inhabited by those who have attained liberation (moksha) The last location for a physical self 6 Tapa loka The place where everything that preceded is burned in order to heal and prepare for final liberation 5 Jnana loka The place where spiritual knowledge and experiential wisdom meet. The final decision to liberate or stay material must be made here. It is the last location before everything is burned away 4 Maharloka The first of the locations where sages reside above the consciousness chakras. The residents of Maharloka are sages who have not fully renounced family life and so they continue to have relationships in the physcial 3 Svarloka The Place where demigods reside and those seeking ultimate liberation are tested to find fault lines that could crack the material being into pieces for easier burning in Tapa loka 2 Bhuvarloka The place where minds seeking liberation are allowed to rest, meditate and take an accounting of their material lives deciding if they wish to ask for the testing in Svarloka 1 Burloka still within the atmosphere of earth and a physical reality able to travel easily back and forth between here and the material world, it is the first glimpse of the next level of consciousness
Samara Rosen’s sculptures Returned Breathe and Circulate caught everyone by surprise in their power to communicate simple messages about the strength of nature and the meaning of materials used by an artist. Rosen describes it this way, “I see the individual characteristics that are present in the material and highlight it through particular arrangement.” Her arrangements of dried herbs in their original state went beyond the term of fiber art since they were of themselves and created next frontier experiences easily. Marciana Scott’s Affirmation Abundance and Intention were stellar inclusions in East Meets West. Scott’s use of over painting and mixed media brought her subject matters into higher place. As abstract oil paintings these two pieces were of themselves completely. Scott explains her process as, “Cultivating understanding and grace; being connected to a higher source opened myself to exploring alternative ways of expressing creative intentions.” Her paintings were a joy for all who visited the exhibit and if many people came back to visit the chakra wall they didn’t leave until spending some time with both of these works. The way each one changed when a different light was upon them was truly remarkable. We end this discussion of the artists who liberated the frontier with Vicki Milewski’s two oil paintings the Sun Always Rises 1 and Sun Always Rises 2 because it is these two works which brought people into the next frontier completely with one person commenting, “I feel like it is me dancing.” These canvases continue the minimalistic works begun by the artist for her Where Our Food Comes From Collection which can be seen as a nod to Gerhard Richter’s work but these dancers take such minimalism to another place. In Sun Always Rises 1 a dancer holds the sun in her hand while Venus and Mercury shine brightly on the other side. In Sun Always Rises 2 a dancer holds Mercury in one hand and the sun in another while Venus shines brightly. Not only does Milewski capture an experience she explains as a “moment before day begins” experience she also captures the time when Venus and Mercury switch places as the morning star while also bringing a sense of lightness and transcendence that is unmistakably hers, and ours. Eliade also suggests that “the circuit of matter and life” ie reincarnation or an overwhelming connection to our physical life can be broken by simply thinking on it and accepting there “are ‘mysteries’ for any intelligence…not liberated” you must “raise”
yourself “to another mode of being “ in order to move beyond the ideas that there are mysteries that need to be solved since in “another mode of being” they do not appear as mysteries. This idea throws all the tools away if one is able to change their mode of being. Turner agrees with this thinking in that to de-mystify the frontier all one has to do is “go into it” and once there the tools of your past life “may not be useful at all”. In an unusual Eliade move he throws into question everything he has written in the preceding book with the last sentence of the book, “Everything depends upon what is meant by freedom.”
Michael Milewski Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski
The Summary Of My Medicine Art Series Jules Heffe Vicki Milewski Michael Milewski
Air weaves the universe and breath weaves the man --Mircea Eliade
My Medicine Art Series: A Summary As the fourth and final year for the My Medicine Art Series, East Meets West was a great send off. Oscar Howe’s comment that art is “My Medicine” inspired these four years of art shows held during the summer months. The first year was simply called My Medicine and sought to introduce people to the artist Oscar Howe with a collection of his works that was astounding and inspirational. Howe’s tohokmu was the central part of the catalog essay “Howe’s Paradox and Anomalistic Legacy Shows the Turning Point for Native American Artists and Insights for our 21st Century Life” which showed how mid-20th Century American artist Oscar Howe’s (1915-1983) art paradoxically contains 21st Century insights due to his anomalistic legacy in painted symbolic scenes based on his Native American cultural mythology. The myth he followed most was that of the Tohokmu (spider web); this Tohokmu could inform internet usage for the present and future users and programmers. The second year of this art series went to the badlands of South Dakota in Vicki Milewski’s oil paintings in Connections. A few works by Oscar Howe showed the influence his work has had on Milewski’s art and philosophy. Pieces from her Badlands Rebel Landscapes art collection showed Milewski’s work with the threads which bind all realities together, her sense of Howe’s tohokmu as well as shapes and forms which have been with her since childhood. Her two main essays for her Art Collection catalog stood in for the essays for the Connections art exhibit catalog with themes of the 21st Century Road Trip which now has a healing efficacy as well as consciousness expansion motives in “Road Tripping in the 21st Century” and the essay which gave this art exhibit its name New Frontiers with Ancient Foundations which showed the connections between Howe, Milewski and myriad other ideas like manifest destiny and our overly consumeristic culture which houses ill health and lack of personal connection in its integral maze. The third installation of the My Medicine Art Series brought an internationally juried group of artists together to disclose The New Medicine with over 50 artists seeking new ways to visualize health and healing while also integrating spirit. The main essay for that catalog was called “Practicing Eternity” a phrase taken from Eliade Mircea’s The Myth of the Eternal Return which sought to bring pre-historical ideas of eternity into Modern consciousness. The artists were shown as looking at medicine through a physical or metaphysical lens since both facets of reality can give substance to eternity or the eternal return. Artists responded to Eastern and Western healing and spiritual pursuits. In the New Medicine we easily saw the course most artists take when thinking of healing—that the spiritual side of things is at work when healing takes place and that the spiritual side of things is present when health is present; so, these artists
state quite openly that spirit and health are inextricably bound. This thinking easily led to the fourth installment of this art series.
East Meets West concludes this series pushing art forward, toward a global perspective disarming the two prevalent hemispheres of East and West by bringing them together for a common cause of health and healing. Eliade is once again consulted this time with his book Yoga: Immortality and Freedom which has a surprising last sentence “Everything depends upon what is meant by freedom.” The other main text used to guide our efforts was Fredrick Jackson Turner’s The Frontier in American History. Both authors understood the importance of moving toward a global cultural experience by understanding the experiences of all peoples. Galaudet Gallery is now embarking on their next four year art series called Sense of Place. The first year will be HERE, the second year THERE, the third year EVERYWHERE and the fourth year NOWHERE using William Morris’ book News from Nowhere as a guide.
For more information on the My Medicine Art Series please visit: Galaudet Gallery’s website: http://galaudetgallery.wixsite.com/ggllc My Medicine Part 4 East Meets West http://galaudetgallery.wixsite.com/ggllc/mmp4 My Medicine Part 3 The New Medicine http://galaudetgallery.wixsite.com/ggllc/mmp3 My Medicine Part 2 Connections http://galaudetgallery.wixsite.com/ggllc/mmp2 My Medicine Part 1 “My Medicine” http://galaudetgallery.wixsite.com/ggllc/mmp1
Galaudet Gallery wishes to thank all the art collectors and art lovers who attended this exhibit. A special thanks to those people and organizations who purchased art works from this exhibit. It is all of your support which is amazing and sustaining in our work of holding fine art exhibitions Sincerely, Galaudet Gallery owners
The products of nature, the objects fashioned by industry, acquire their reality, their identity, only to the extent of their participation in a transcendent reality. —Mircea Eliade
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This means that the inventions found in conceptual art are not frontiers, they are merely repurposing of materials to invent something that was there. This is the last gasp of conceptualism since it is time to return to making original art which creates a frontier within itself much like abstract art created individual pieces of art which stood for themselves and not portraying anything but themselves. It is no longer most important to be the first to exhibit a toilet as a fountain; instead it is most important to create art which creates a frontier experience.
