Sound and Silence

The secret, the heartbeat, the soul

Some of my work has been selected to be a part of a group show entitled “Aural” and explores the relationship artists have with music. The show has an interactive component so that upon standing in front of each piece, viewers can put on their headphones and hear that artists soundtrack.

I identify closely with this aspect of creating. It is incredibly important and sets the tone for me when I work. The truth is also that creating work for me is sacred, and has spiritual undertones. While I am not a part of any kind of organized religion, the making of art is an act of being present and communicating with my environment and parts of myself that are not always obvious.

Music seems to facilitate this kind of dialogue, and connects me with ideas and emotions I need to face, feel, and dream about. I talked about this a lot with my friend Rudo when we recorded an episode about Music and Identity on The Magic Hour Podcast. I also spoke about my artmaking process in our very first episode- Pixie and Rudo, if you feel inspired to hear more.

I’ve also found that the art I make helps me navigate life, and is almost a roadmap to the next place I must go. It is almost as if I am crafting my path in real time.

So I will explain.

The two pieces below will be showing next Friday and they have stories to tell.

A Secret Cavern is just that. Secret. The muffled sounds of crashing waves, light drifts, purple stones. I slept there once. I actually did. The stones glowed plum in the hazy twilight. I heard cackling in the crisp cut hills topped with golden blue green moss.

My throat ached.

I had been pushing myself to my limits that year, staying out too late, eating hamburgers every night. But I ended up in a dream that I never woke up from. Endless voices without words, swirling eddies of mist and shadow. Sometimes I am there again. Perhaps I never left.

Expansion stretches- it takes the plum rocks and realizes they are the heart. Within the Secret Cavern there is a heartbeat, sacred healing and warmth. I take solace in natural tones, a grounding voice, a focal point. But there is color inside. When the mollusks break open, this is what reveals itself, a pulsing epic force.

I believe in this expansion, another dimension of existence. There are so many facets to being a part of something, of the threads woven in the fabric of my life. These two pieces being shown together are really quite meaningful to me, that they can sit beside each other. Two worlds resting, part of the same reality. Two truths, both equally true. The secret. The heartbeat. The soul.