Recently I saw a high-quality giclée print from an original appliqué thangka created by the artist Leslie Nguyen Temple. I was entranced by the image entitled, “White Tara in New York City” and knew that Leslie and her husband Terris had collaborated on large-scale works for many years with the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa and that he took a keen interest in their personal artwork as well.
Some of the visual elements in my work: The plumb bob is used in construction to ensure that structures are vertical. I use it more as a symbol for finding the right balance in one’s meditation and life. Are we aligned, for example, with what is true? Are we in line with how phenomena and the mind actually exist, and not how we think they exist? The archeological marker is often a standing for mindfulness.
Soon my father found out that I had a flair for the handcraft and he took me to exhibitions and trade shows, taught me history of jewel art and always answered all my questions like ‘What is the name of this gemstone? Where does it come from? How did the Vikings make there jewelry? How do I draw a ring?’
Early on in my studies I had encountered concepts and approaches to what is generally known of as Color Therapy. Theories and research that indicate that color itself could heal and does. I learned also that many of the minerals that are used in traditional healing and herbalism were the very minerals used to create the colors in the glass.
You know your holy place. Your field, tree, chapel, cushion, cathedral, mat, temple or ocean wait for you. Go there often, without any agenda. And let your heart sing the lullabies of its longing to keep itself awake.
A Quiet Collision of Verse and Image by Deborah Anne Quibell & Kimberly Poppe.
When creativity comes to us, knocks hard at our door, we can’t ignore it, we have to listen, we have to let go of what we are doing and submit in that precise moment, if not it will follow us, and continue to. We do not choose an idea, more often it chooses us and we have to manifest the idea, or be in pursuit of it.
LEVEKUNST art of life is happy to introduce a music series about David Hykes and his work. Described by the New York Times as a composer-mystic, he is also a singer, meditation teacher, visual artist, cultural contemplative, and a recognized pioneer and respected teacher of musical spirituality and contemplative practice.