Artists are encouraged to ignite their imagination and illuminate the ordinary, as Nancy Seaton has done with this exquisite fused glass bunchberry.
For the fifth year, Spirit of the Wilderness is putting together a show to encourage artists to examine the overlap between creativity and spirituality. Illumination: Igniting Imagination will open on March 13 and run through March 29 at the Johnson Heritage Post.
Medieval artists illuminated manuscripts we still admire in museums and art history books. Scribes (who could have just copied away day after day) allowed their imaginations to be ignited. They made visual illuminations of scripture, bringing the text to life.
This kind of illumination, when an artist allows his or her vision to be ignited by work in another form, has fired artists down the centuries—as a painter reflects on a sculpture or a piece of music, or when a poet responds to a stained glass window or a piece of pottery. These are “illuminating” each other’s work, and by doing so, creating something bigger than the original.
For our 2015 Entry Points to the Creative art show, we invite artists to engage this theme. Begin thinking about the idea of illumination and how it is expressed in your media. Choose a “significant passage” to illuminate—that passage may be word or sunset or rocks along the shore. Imagine illuminating northern lights! Or, particularly with this theme, you may want to consider working with another artist, perhaps across media or genre.
Anyone with questions is asked to please contact Lee Stewart (387 2983), Bonnie Gay Hedstrom (387-2538), or Mary Ellen Ashcroft (387-1536). Students are asked to contact Mary MacDonald at Cook County High School.
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