Lori Sweet Studios 

The Art of Spirit and Matter

 

Art, in its many forms, can serve as a bridge or portal between the worlds - between spirit and matter and between our inner and outer experiences.  Like icons of old, when we create with intention, art can inspire and inform us.  It puts us in touch with the liminal, the numinous, the imaginal, the holy. 

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While art usually produces a tangible product, I am more interested in the intangible aspects of art-making or mark-making: the energetic process that restores and transforms both the artist and the viewer in ways seen and unseen.   Art makes visible what normally cannot be expressed in a linear way. We can overcome fear and befriend wisdom through an expressive and embodied process of creative intention.

 

                                               ​Art Heals and Transforms Us

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In this way, art is a form of visual energy medicine or prayer.  Creating art/images is one way I (and others) can respond to the suffering and the joy in the world and manifest more hope, love, beauty, and compassion. We are swimming in a sea of divine being-ness and love.  We are embedded in the sacred fabric of time and space.  Creativity is a foundational aspect of life expressed.   Even brief encounters of this awareness can help us to survive and thrive through any challenges we face.

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Art is a storytelling process - a relational process - a spiritual process.  While the art, itself, has a story, it also unites us, here and now, in our own stories (patrons always are telling me stories in response to the images) and it reminds us that we are part of a bigger collective and cosmological story, too. The art illuminates the relational nature of our lives and images can express certain things that we may find hard to put into words. 

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Intentional and intuitive art can access the worlds of the primordial, mystical, mythological, and archetypal.   Art is where both our personal stories are told and the universal story is shared. Through our shared stories and insights, we are put in touch with each other, nature, and the divine wisdom that embraces it all.   ​

 

                                    Art and story create a sanctuary for the sacred.

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​​I love to create safe, sacred, and peaceful spaces for prayer, meditation, healing, rest, and inspiration.  May the images of my art invite peace, love, and inspiration into the spaces they occupy and bless the sacred places in you and in your life.