Art as Transformation

To transform means to change the form of an object into something new. The meaning of an experience can also be transformed into a whole new interpretation. What was once a hopeless and unfortunate encounter can be transformed into a reason to hope by focusing on the elements of the experience that led to growth, wisdom and the recognition of the real. In art I often look at life as a reflection of experience which has been washed with grace and transformed into beauty and strength. When a cocoon is transformed into a butterfly the old form is very different from the new. When I compare this transformation to the unexamined beliefs we live with I can see how easy it is to accept lies without critical thinking and how easy it is to believe in what we might even believe to be truth which are actually unexamined facts. We are now in a world that has been changed in a very short time because of the pandemic. I have spent most of this time indoors and so I am grateful spring is here and the vaccination is helping us get to some normalcy here in the United States. Unfortunately I recognize it is catastrophic in other areas around the world. The news from India is particularly alarming.

As I think of the transformative power of art , I think of the fragility of life which I see in the magic of an orchid, so beautiful but without proper care just dies. Right now I am holding on to my sources of hope. I continue to draw, paint and write. I ask myself what images can I put out there to counterbalance human woes? There is so little one can say except to point to the fresh rose, the singing robin and the vast blue sky.