Artspeak AWAKEN Promo Piece

Our church, High Rock Northshore, holds a Performing and Visual Arts Show to Fight Human Trafficking in Salem, MA  every March to raise money and awareness for different organizations involved in fighting human trafficking. Last year the organization was iSanctuary, a California-based organization that helps women rescued from sex trafficking return to normal lives. Each year has a different theme that relates to the cause. 2013's theme was "Restore". This year's organization is Amirah House (www.amirahboston.org),  a "non-profit organization located in the Boston area dedicated providing “transformative whole-person care for survivors of commercial exploitation as we engage, educate and mobilize our communities and partners to respond to human trafficking.”

The theme this year is AWAKEN: "Art wakes us up. Just as we’re nodding off to the repetition of daily life, a picture or song or film or story rouses us, reminds us that the world is strange and beautiful, full of mysteries and wonders. Sometimes the awakening is pleasing to our senses, sometimes jarring. Either way, we feel more alive, more aware as a result." As part of the Arts group that helps plan, set-up and run the show, I was selected to produce the signature image for the event promotional materials. I kicked around several ideas for the piece. I knew I wanted something I could paint, that was different, impressive visually, and not cliché, (like a sunrise, sleeping beauty, Rip Van Winkle, etc.) or overtly religious in nature.

Then I happened across several images from the Hubble Space Telescope on a friend's FB post. 

 
They were beautiful and mysterious, like looking into creation itself. I felt that these images lent themselves perfectly to the "awaken" theme, on an almost cosmic level. The universe "waking up". 
There were many images to choose from, but I settled on one that seemed to draw the eye in a natural spiral, and also had a variety of colors in it, as well as some great contrast between the largely orange background and the intense blue of the stars.

 
Although the image was freely available on the internet, and I could have used the photograph itself, I felt strongly that I wanted to paint the image. I wanted it to feel more organic and personal. I gridded out an 8.5" x 11" color printout and created a scaled up corresponding grid on a 14" x 18" x.5" gessoed wooden panel. 

 


I started with a loose underpainting in orange and burnt umber. I quickly discovered that the image that at first appeared to be very simple, was in fact, incredibly complex and  unlike anything I had ever painted before. I render a lot of recognizable objects, in my paintings, people, buildings, vehicles. Things with recognizable scale, angles, orientation, and most importantly, edges.
This images was vast areas of space that were filled with nothing but dust, gas and stars.
Plus I was working in acrylic, and it was very hard to blend the colors for the soft look of gas clouds. I lamented the fact that I no longer own an airbrush. It was a lot harder than I had anticipated.

 
I started to add in the darker areas. If I had it to do again, I would paint the entire panel dark brown, and then add the clouds of gas over that as layers of semi-transparent washes, rather than adding in the darker areas over the orange. At one point I was so frustrated that I was ready to chuck the piece out, but I stepped away. When I came back to it, instead of feeling like I was fighting the medium, (drying too fast, not malleable enough)  it felt like it was starting to work for me. I was adding layer upon layer of thin washes, for the gas, punctuated by the opaque blue and white of the stars. It became more and more complex visually. After working on it for two days, I decided I had better stop, as the image is so complex, that I could literally spend another 20 hours adding in details.
This is what I ended up with. I fell it conveys the essence of the original image, but has some more personal touches, especially in the intensity of the colors and the brushwork.

    


I call the piece "cosmic awakening" 

ARTSPEAK: Restore Follow-Up

My wife Amy and I have been attending Highrock NorthShore regularly since the fall of 2012. We’ve lived in Salem for several years and we’re interested in both the visual and performing arts. So, when we first heard about ArtSpeak a few months ago at our Creative Arts Connection Group we knew we wanted to be involved. In preparation, we attended a planning meeting for the show and created pieces to donate.

 

My art piece was a mobile made of wooden spheres painted to look like the Earth in three stages of death, regrowth and restoration.















Amy’s piece was a cross-stitch embroidery sampler based on a design from the early 1800’s featuring a design which included 2 doves, bluebirds, and a basket of flowers.
We also helped with the load-in on Thursday night, and display set up on Friday.

This past Friday night was the main opening event for our Artspeak weekend, and I would say it was a great success. Starting after 6 pm dozens of art lovers from Highrock and the local area arrived. It was gratifying to see so many people enjoying and interacting with the art pieces we had helped create and set up.

For the first part of the evening, we adjourned to the upstairs of the Old Town Hall to hear more about iSanctuary, and to hear reflections from Pastors Brynn and Aaron, hear original songs, a poem, and even two rap songs that supported the theme of the art on display. The theme of the donated artworks was Restore, and was meant to express an unearthing and restoration of beauty, dignity and humanity in all its various forms. If you’re not aware, iSancutary is an organization committed to helping women who have been rescued from the sex-trafficking industry regain their sense of self through learning a useful trade and equipping them to support themselves through creating jewelry and stationary crafts.

Afterwards, we moved back downstairs to enjoy refreshments and to start the silent auction bidding. Over the next hour people looked at artwork, networked, ate cookies, hummus and cheese and drank sparkling lemonade from Trader Joe’s, all while checking in at the bidding table every few moments to see how their bids were performing.

Amy and I decided to bid on two pieces we especially liked. It was exciting to see if you would get the piece you hoped for or not. As the hour progressed, we found ourselves in a small bidding war over a painting titled “Evening Marsh” by Ben Ober, and took out our bid for the second piece we liked so we could focus on this one piece. It’s a lovely piece, and we anticipated that at least one other person might like it as well. However, our dollar limit was a little higher than our competitor’s and we won the bid. We are now the proud owners of an original work by Ben Ober, and are looking forward to giving it a home in our Salem condo.

Besides acquiring a new painting to put in our home, I also gained a new appreciation for how the arts can be used to bring justice and healing to our broken world. Before this event I’ve never used my creative abilities in a way that will so directly impact the lives of others in need. I was greatly encouraged by the enthusiastic turnout and reception of the event, and I believe that God is working and will continue to work in our lives and the lives of those we hope to touch through this and similar events.

Over the course of the evening we showcased 41 pieces of art and raised $3,000 dollars through the silent art auction and through selling jewelry created by iSanctuary artists.   Everyone deserves a big hand for helping to make this donation to iSanctuary possible.

ArtSpeak: Restore Materials

Above are promo materials (poster, flyer and postcard) I designed for  ArtSpeak: Restore, an Artshow and Concert to Fight Human Trafficking being held Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24, 2013 at the Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Street, Salem, MA. There will also be an opening silent auction and concert: March 22, 7-9pm
The show is being held to benefit iSanctuary, www.isanctuary.org and is hosted by Highrock North Shore, www.highrocknorthshore.org.
We are surrounded by beauty. That beauty, however, is often neglected and abused, hiding it from our senses, our hearts, and our minds.  Artspeak: Restore is an art show that celebrates the unearthing of forgotten and neglected beauty.  All proceeds from art sold will benefit iSanctuary, a non-profit organization that helps restore the lives of girls and women who have been victimized by human trafficking.

For more information or to get involved, email artspeak@highrocknorthshore.org