Lessons Learned Under a Mighty Oak
“Doorknob: Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction.” ~ Alice in Wonderland
Sometimes more than any other single process… our perspective… prevents the happiness we seek, the peace we deserve, the expanded sense of Being that is our birthright.
The way we see, and subsequently interpret the world around us, informs the very ground upon which we stand. So, how…like Alice, might we “read the directions and directly be directed” to the right outcome? How do we find for ourselves the doorknob that may lead to a passage way, which itself leads to liberation, freedom, and the end of suffering?
The most direct and potent answer, is to discover within, the will to alter your perceptions and to deal in the Real and the Right Now, to give up the story of Me and the grasping of Mine.
An amazing Art Project conceived by Darci Niva and brought to SWIHA, by her, has given this school the opportunity to engage in just such a wider perspective and a deeper understanding.
She conceived of this idea as a visual exploration of her current studies in the field of social justices. But the seed of the idea may well be in the spiritual journey, she herself, has undertaken. Groomed in a fundamentalist background, and along with her husband ordained as a missionary, she came to a crisis in faith that precipitated a dramatic shift of view. From the narrow perspective of beliefs that exclude, she broke through to a horizon that includes all…thus the Tree of Life project was born.
I have been a canvas artist and later a muralist for almost fifty years. Laboring in front of an empty expanse of white can be a daunting and demanding experience. Shouldering the responsibility for filling that expanse, for expressing something unique, and later bearing the burden of others opinions about the value or the quality of the work, can and does, trap many an artist.
So Darci conceived of a tree drawn across an expanse of eighteen canvases each bearing a tiny portion of a mighty oak. The tree grounded and reaching for the sky, drawn in black against a stark white canvas background, a tree skeleton if you will. She then put her first tree in front of eighteen homeless artists, supplied them with the paints to create their small piece of the oak and asked that they do whatever moved them, whatever they wanted to do, to be unafraid, to remember what it is like to feel the joy of unbridled creation.
Each panel is quite different, each artist saw their portion of the tree in a specific and unique way. As it turned out… the tree is quite prolific, growing upon its branches and reaching for the sky, are the fruits of lemons, peaches, apples, (one with a peace symbol carved on it), cherries, plums…and… what could only be, a pomegranate.
Beneath its branches are butterflies, flowers, grass and soil. Nestled within the curve of one branch an artist discovered a family of ducks.
In some canvases the sky is the azure blue of a summer day, in others the cool aqua of winter. Some of the skies are puffy with clouds, and in others, the sun shines in a blinding yellow ball.
Here is the miracle of the 18 wildly different panels. When they are carefully hung and in their proper order, a mighty oak appears.
And herein the visual expression of the “doorknob and the direction,” that many of us spend a lifetime seeking…
Our lives are but a small piece of an ever growing and entirely unknowable process. As we labor to produce our specific expression, it would serve us greatly to recognize that the tree we will contribute too; is not ours to know, not ours to control, not ours to be concerned about.
And like the tree that Darci provided SWIHA with, which will join a forest of other trees, produced by other makers, our small individual panel is our only concern.
To live in this manner, to make art in this manner, frees us from the burden of “knowing” and liberates us into the wide realms of realization, and play for the sake of play.
Our SWIHA tree is nearing completion; we will unveil it at a company dinner complete with video preservation so that you all might enjoy the unique perspectives of the artists here at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.
We will then deliver it to Darci for her reception and eventual housing in a Sanctuary. We hope that you stay tuned to view ours and to engage with us in the making of a forest…
Adayre R. Miller
Curator – Art with Heart Gallery, SWIHA
Presenting ~ The final SWIHA Trees Of Life!
