KAUAI REFLECTIONS

KAUAI REFLECTIONS I, II, III

A few months ago I was invited to participate in a group mural exhibition at Viewpoints Gallery in Makawao, Maui, Hawaii.

The title of the exhibit is "2020 - Through the Eyes of the Artist".    We were supplied with wooden panels, 10" x 10", and invited to share our expressions on life during these pandemic times.   Artists from all the Hawaiian islands were invited and the finished panels consequently installed in the form of a continuous mural.    

Since I was fortunate to receive three panels, my work took on a wider scope literally...  Here is the brief statement I wrote to accompany the pieces:

"Here I am, on Kauai, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Beauty and peace restoring itself without the onslaught of visitors and no, or very low, virus presence....Yet, we are surrounded by and part of a world filled with fear and upheaval.    How to maintain a balance of belonging and compassion without losing ourselves?"

 Check out the show!  All panels are for sale (also individually!) and the mural will be displayed through January 2021.

http://viewpointsgallerymaui.com/archive_featured/through_the_eyes_of_the_artists/index_through_the_eyes_of_the_artists.html

SPECIAL ART FOR SPECIAL TIMES

We are living in historic times indeed.   For many of us our lives have been turned upside down in all kinds of ways.  One way for sure is that it has brought many of us to pause and reflect on what was, what has changed and what the future may look like.    Letting ourselves get too caught up in this obsessive spinning of thoughts is a bleak road to nowhere. 

I thought that it might be a nice thing to share with you, in an affordable way,  some art I created that comes from a different and quiet place:

   

The piece Nanosecond  was created after an intense week of study with Zen Calligraphy Master Kazuaki Tanahashi.   It is the Japanese enso circle, symbolizing the moment.  The moment where we have everything we need right within us….   It is painted in deep silence and with total focus.

This piece  “Turn, Turn, Turn”  was inspired by the labyrinth and the Ecclesiastes text (also known as the Pete Seeger song).  Labyrinths were created in early times for seekers who were not able to go and embark on far away pilgrimages.   Instead we find them at churches, such as Chartres Cathedral in France and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.  What beautiful metaphors for our human journeys!    The black moths in Hawaiian mythology are messengers from Beyond… They put our hearts at peace with assurances that our loved ones, who have gone before, are all right….

Both of these pieces are available in a special edition of 50 archival prints in their original sizes, 24" x 16" on paper, and 12" x 12" either on canvas or paper respectively.  Contact the artist or Hashi's Fine Art Gallery for more details.

In any event, I hope these pieces may bring you solace  and/or be a focus for reflection or centering yourself in the time of Covid-19.  

May Peace be with you!

Liedeke Bulder 

April 2020

Our Human Condition

ECCE HOMO  2003-2010

Collage, oil stick, bistre pigment wash on Stonehenge paper

28" x 20" (image size)

I am battling the tail end of a cold virus that has lingered for weeks.  The good thing is that it has allowed me lots of down time and time to play with my website and even attempt to write a blog for the first time in about a year...

Also, time to reflect.  It is the time of year for remembrance:  10 years since America was filled with war cries and started the Iraq war.  It is the time of Passover and the time of Holy Week.    A time to contemplate on our human condition...

I created the above piece over a period of 7 years.  I started it at the beginning of the Iraq war.  We were living in a community were most folks were very pro war.  So this was a way to process and deal with my own feelings.  I would collect the newspaper pieces and put them into a file then pull them out as the Spirit called me through the years to work more on this.

As you look at the bits, you can see a photograph of a 'mended' veteran's face, Abu Graib, a grieving woman dating back to the Haiti earthquake, and on and on.  As I finished the piece when our troops left Iraq in 2010, I became aware that what had started as an outlet to process the beginning of the Iraq war, over the years evolved into a statement about our human condition. 

I do not know how the quote "Love is the power behind non violence" ended up right at the place where the human heart would be in the crucifix figure...  "Ecce Homo".

May this week be a profound time for Christian, Jew and all of us searching for Divine Mystery.