X-Posted to my art blog, mythandwonder.com
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Art, Spirit, and Wonder: Finding the Sacred Through Art
Art History tells the story of humanity. Here we'll look at how Paganism has been viewed in art through the ages; into the ancient past, the Renaissance and other eras, and how artists are exploring Paganism today.
Helena
Helena Domenic has been an art history nerd for her entire life, having toured the Sistine Chapel at the age of eighteen months. She never quite recovered from that experience (thankfully) and has been seeking out the sacred and profane in art ever since. She's even a real-life art history professor at a Pennsylvania university. She is also a Tarot nerd, having created her own Tarot deck, the Fellowship of the Fool.
I have this ear worm today that happens to be a hit song from back in the seventies.... it is reminding me that even when everything looks bad, we need to remain positive. The song was written by someone with the unfortunate name of Wet Willie:
Well you say you got the blues,
Got holes in both of your shoes,
Feelin' alone and confused,
You got to keep on smilin', keep on smilin'
Got holes in both of your shoes,
Feelin' alone and confused,
You got to keep on smilin', keep on smilin'
....Keep on smilin' through the rain, laughin' at the pain
Rollin with the changes til the sun comes out again
Keep on smilin' through the rain, laughin' at the pain
Rollin with the changes, singin' this refrain
Keep on smilin' through the rain, laughin' at the pain
Rollin with the changes, singin' this refrain
Indeed the sun MUST come out again, the pendulum has to swing back to a better outlook for everyone. I say this as I cringe reading the news every single day for the past year at least. I am really sick of seeing the current president of the US seemingly get a pass for his bad behavior in the face of the #me too movement. I am so tired of knowing that our coastlines are shrinking, and water is not drinkable in so many communities..... It can overwhelm us if we let it. What can we do to keep on smiling? To remain bright?
For me, it has come down to sticking to my resolutions of making art and writing every single day. (OK, I missed yesterday, but I AM human), as well as following my own fitness goals and sticking to achieving them. I don't have any control at all over the outside world. I do have control on what happens in my own little sphere of influence, and I can control what goes into my body, and the care I take of my body. Have been amazed at the positive outcomes I have seen from just a few weeks of exercise.
Getting back to my artistic practice, making art everyday has made me so much better as as artist. I have been drawing anything and everything - I like to capture my cats as they stare at me, waiting for me to feed them. I like to try to imagine difficult angles to be posing in, and then I draw them. I have taken photos of myself in poses I want to try to capture and this has assisted me in becoming a better observer of everything around me.
Is any of this influencing the world at large? No, not in the slightest... unless it means that doing the small things that keep my personal microcosm happily humming along is being passed onto other people that I encounter, and to whom I can be just a wee bit more pleasant. I do think that this kind of work is a "pay it forward" sort of thing - why inflict my bad moods on the unsuspecting people I have to see every day if I can fo something to make them smile instead? Even if it is as small as saying "thank you." or chatting up the person behind the counter.
Wag more, whine less. These are more goals for 2018.
It is a great pleasure in the life of an artist to be able to share one's vision with the world. The internet and online libraries are a lot of fun, but being able to showcase one's work in a place where people can come and view it in person is so much better. This September has kept me super busy as I have had three shows, all opening in the same week.
The image that heads this blog is my "wall" of art from Cheyney University's faculty art exhibition. I had created a number of canvases this summer for a solo exhibition, ranging in size from 11" x 14" to 30" x 40," and all of those were headed to a show in Wilmington, Delaware (more on these shortly). one of my colleagues was dumbfounded when I told her I wasn't sure I'd have work for the faculty show. "What about those hundreds of Goddess drawings you've been doing," she asked. I was a little stuck. I did indeed have hundreds of drawings as part of my "Goddess a Day" project, however, they were small, on paper, and would have to be framed.
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It has been far too long since I posted here, and I have no great excuses for that..... although I did manage to delete my entire hard drive AND Sense8 was cancelled..... so that was a perfect storm.
Although writing is a long time love of mine, painting is really my thing, although I have to write in my professional career, which also keeps me quite busy. Like everyone watching the national radar, it has been difficult keeping my spirits up, but I am blessed to belong to several communities that show me every day that there is still much to hope for.
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A Visit with the Asynjur: Frigga’s Handmaidens
I have been delving deeper into seeking out lesser-known goddesses for this little project of mine, and decided that the Asynjur, also known as the Handmaidens of the Norse Goddess Frigga were certainly deserving of attention. I began to try and read through Snorri Sturluson and the Eddas as my first source for Norse lore, however it because abundantly clear that something was probably missing. Anyone who has tried to view these ancient writings with a modern eye can discern that most of these stories were re-told by Christian monks with an eye to selling them as pre-cursors to Christianity. Naturally, preserving the stories of female characters was not at the forefront of their minds. I do not consider myself Asatru, nor do I consider myself a reconstructionist of any kind, so I will apologize in advance for any unintended offenses I may make in my own re-interpretation of these Goddesses. I have a love for deities whose stories are not fully known or told, and as such, I am also open to UPG. As I create my own images of the Goddesses, please know I do so with utter respect and love for the cultures from which they came.
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For further study on the Handmaidens, I recommend Norse Goddess Magic by Alice Karlsdottir. That's a new edition of the book previ -
Thank you!
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I you offer prints, I want them for my ritual space. -
This makes me so happy. I love your work. I wrote book for Frigga and the Handmaidens and have been their devotee for sixteen year
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Thank you so much! I will definitely check out your blog. And I will definitely let you know about prints. Finding time to make t
I have been meaning to write a blog post on Goddesses.... lots of blog posts on lots of Goddesses, but that annoying nuisance known as real life has interrupted me numerous times. Today I slowed down. I slowed down a lot, and in so doing, I thought I was going to finish a much delayed post about the Norse Asynjur, but my heart is not in it today. I need to write about loss instead.
My beautiful 17 year old cat Bella is leaving us. Bella does indeed live up to her name as the many photos my husband and I have taken of her over the years will show anyone.
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Oh, we know what it is to loose a cat! We have lost two in the last two years. I miss them so much. My partner and I were unfairly
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Thank you! I am so sorry you had to leave your home!
I have to say, making my 2017 resolution to create a drawing of a Goddess a day has been rewarding, challenging, fun, and illuminating. I've had a great time sharing images of goddesses on my Facebook page every day, receiving feedback on my drawings, and getting ideas for new ones. I thought for today's Blog post, I'd write about Turan, a Goddess of ancient Etruria, or what today is known as Tuscany. The Etrurians are more commonly referred to as the Etruscans, which is how I will refer to them here.
There are a great many things about the Etruscans which still remain a mystery in the twenty-first century, mostly because their language has been only partially deciphered. What we can do is look at the art they created and see visually the things that mattered most to them.
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"Unlike Roman and Greek women, whose husbands were known for faithlessness and not marrying for love, Etruscan women seemed to enj
