The 11th Annual Abstract Sanctuary artists share where they find sanctuary.
SNEZHINA BISEROVA
"To try to discover the countless subtle manifestations of eternity – matter and spirit, space and time, and among all this – the man with his drama – that's the meaning and the direction of my chosen path as an artist - to touch as closely as possible the essence of things with the means that I have."
Snezhina Biserova
READE WEBER
"Making is a time I am truly present. I can quiet my mind and simply create. I find sanctuary in the immersion of letting go through a focused artistic process."
Reade Weber
JANE CASTELAN BUCCOLA
"I yearn for the opportunity to enter the stillness of my studio, my world, a where I create, explore and hope for that magic that just might happen."
Jane Castelan Buccola
MARY NEUBAUER
"I find sanctuary in numbers that describe the deep cycles of nature. The image 'Monsoon' is made from data: daily rainfall for 25 years. The timeless rhythms of the Sonoran Desert monsoon seasons are nuanced, yet consistent."
Mary Neubauer
MARY JO MANN
Breath, Time, and Space
"Making art begins with a question, some hope, an idea. It’s a way to process the experience of living in this world. Art is an act of prayer and meditation for me. Through art, I connect with others, and connect with a force that is greater than I am."
Mary Jo Mann
KATYA KIM HOLMES
"I find the methodical process of papercutting to be both grounding and energizing. It allows me to slow down, balance my breathing, and escape into the flow."
Katya Kim Holmes
"Utopia is to have making and dreams coincide"
Quote by ES Devlin shared by Katya Kilm Holmes.
LEN ZEOLI
"Sanctuary through art:
My studio is a safe place to experiment and explore ways to elucidate concepts. There is no outside judgment on my ideas or how I choose to express them. As forms take shape I have the freedom to ask questions such as “What if?” and “Why not?”."
Len Zeoli
LAUREN MARIE BRANK
"The act of creating helps me learn to trust and follow the flow of my intuition."
Lauren Marie Brank
PATI HAYS
"My studio is filled with plants, books, art and music – this is my sanctuary, my safe place. The creative process enables me to transcend beyond the worries and stress of this life and enter into a dream state finding and expressing harmony."
Pati Hays
LORRAINE MILLER
"After watching his barn burn to the ground, 17th Century samurai and poet
wrote:
“Barn’s burnt down
now
I can see the moon”
Mizuta Masahide
His words give me the courage to move forward in my life and my art and find meaning and hidden beauty in the imperfect."
Lorraine Miller
VENU TUMMALAPALLI
"Art is the language of my innermost emotions, an extension of perception through my lens. Imperfect senses and imagination push me to manifest visions only seen in my mind. Amidst haze, clarity emerges transcending science's limits, allowing expression of the ineffable and often of the unsaid."
Venu Tummalapalli
MARIA BOTTI VILLEGAS
"Transformation is a daily occurrence.
Individuals and collective people are on the path of change as Earth simultaneously transforms itself. I have the joy of painting those concepts into images of Earth, unveiling its core like a mirror of our existence."
Maria Botti Villegas
EARL GRENVILLE KILLEEN
PATRICIA WALDYGO
"When I immerse myself in painting, my mind abides in a more spacious realm of consciousness than mundane daily life. If I happen to be having a not-so-good day, I can totally change my mood by painting—especially if I’m happy with how the painting is progressing. No matter what I’m not attaining or achieving in daily life (according to my inner critic), putting paint on canvas to bring forth an inner vision somehow makes me feel productive and validated."
Patricia Waldygo
KAREN KURKA JENSEN
"May this be a morning of innocent beginning when the gift within you slips clear."
Author John O'Donohue
Shared by Karen Kurka Jensen
GREGORY KESSLER
"Before there was written language, there was the language of drawing. I seek to reveal the intersections between the physical world and the world of wonder, imagination and dreams."
Gregory Kessler
MICHELINE RONNINGEN
"Sanctuary is found in my studio and art work. I prefer to present peaceful and/or exciting invitations, something to attract and engage, not something to distress without need.
Recently I re-discovered that unless my environment is calm and open I'm unable to freely move into that abstract space requiring perspective, detachment, creativity and engagement. Household disasters and health concerns prevail, yet I do believe things may open up and return with spring."
Micheline Ronningen
KATHY FERGUSON
"In my art studio, I discover sanctuary, a haven from life's tumult. Creating allows me to find solace, channeling emotions into tangible expressions. It's here I find peace, clarity, and a sense of purpose amid the chaos of the world."
Kathy Ferguson
DOREEN ELLIS
"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for."
Quote shared by Doreen Ellis
WALTER JAKUBOWSKI
"Photography is a transformation, not a reproduction.”
Ernst Haas
Quote shared by Walter Jakubowski
TONI ELKINS
"I feel art has always been my emotional therapy. My art shows me the REAL me. You cannot hide behind a true painting. It tells you everything you need to know."
Toni Elkins
HILARY SHEEHAN
"When I am creating art, everything else disappears. I put on music when I walk in my studio, and as I get involved in my work, gradually I can’t even hear it. Whether I am drawing, painting or just imagining my next project I am lost in my own world."
Hilary Sheehan
MARIAN KEELER
"In art-making, my sanctuary is my studio. It is an escape from the ordinary world. My studio is “away” — it is authentic, separate. Quiet or filled with music. Sun steaming in. Or rain against the windows. Looking inward or outward."
Marian Keeler
ELLEN ZIMMERMAN
"I cherish glimpses of a secret universe that I create through art. I made a small earth, floating in blackness, with grasses battered by blustery winds. I taste cool bits of nurturing, blue water, bubbling up from below, sprinkling down from on high. And, oh the light! Here is sanctuary."
Ellen Zimmerman
VIRGINIA GOTT
"Art is a timeless and familiar refuge for me, where I go to tune out the noise and immerse my soul in an experience or thought, expressing the feeling created through colors, lines, and texture."
Virginia Gott
ISAAC LARSON
"I paint houses for a living, always working with one color at a time, so my sanctuary in my art making is letting myself to become immersed in the experience of color and creativity without boundaries."
Isaac Larson
Debbie Tracey
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
Thomas Merton.
Guess!
Match the HAND to the art first in the grid below!
Then find answers with a visit to the 11th Annual Abstract Sanctuary preview page:
