I was a woodcut printmaker in the 1970s and 1980s. Galleries showed my work and some of it became part of private and public collections. About two months ago, I read that one of my prints would be in the Brooklyn Museum’s new American Art exhibition.* I felt honored.
After days of thought, I decided to travel to the show’s opening on October 4, 2024. I’m glad that I went because I gained insights into my career, the meaning of a creative career, the importance of art, and the constancy of spirituality.
I was in the spring of my life when I began as an artist. Now, I’m in the late autumn of my life. I’m fortunate that I can gaze back and look forward. This series is about the discoveries I made during my journey and how they renewed me. The trip even yielded an unexpected benefit: I realized that space was the unifying theme for all that I experienced.
I flew from San Francisco to New York and back: I crossed the sky’s space. I occupied spaces: seats on the plane, taxis, subways, hotel room, and restaurants. I looked at hundreds of artworks: all art is about the subdivision of spaces. New York consists of many styles of buildings: each one is the arrangement of many spaces. New York is gridded by open spaces: the streets are the arteries of the city and Central Park is a welcome expanse to engage with nature. While I was gone, I was not home: I left a space in San Francisco while I was in New York. I saw much politically aware art: exhibitions are creating space for unrecognized people.
This theme of space is a deep concept in Daoist and Buddhist texts. The ideogram is kong, 空. The component glyph, 穴, means cave; 工, indicates the pronunciation (happens to be a picture of a carpenter’s square and means, “work; worker”). In addition to “space,” kong can mean, “empty; emptiness; air; sky; vacant; unoccupied.” Throughout this journey, kong revealed itself as the common element of art and spirituality. It is dynamic and embedded into existence in countless ways.
Space is energy. Energy is space. Creative space is everything.
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It is good to read about your journey to New York through your eyes as an artist. Occupying space is food for thought
ones art and in one’s life. I wonder if I can hear you say they are one and the same!! congratulations on the exhbition. I would like to see the work that has been selected of yours. Carol Lawrence
You’ll see the print in an upcoming post. Yes, I think art is a matter of space and that will be explored throughout the series. 🙏🏼