All Along Life is Art

Sketch by Chuck Hoffman © Genesis+Art

Holden Village, WA

I have considered myself an artist for as long as I can remember. As a visual person, I can study shapes and forms and the relationships between them long enough I must admit, to lose track of time. Peg, my wife and artist collaborator, and I can go to the studio in the early morning darkness and re-emerge in the darkness of night and wonder what day it is. We would wander in the landscape of creative time.

As I have matured both in my life and in my art, I have come to realize that all along, life is art: it’s not just a practice that happens in our studio. The rigorous craft and process of creating art extends to all aspects of my daily life. I’ve discovered that one of my underlying motives is to live a life in such a way that art becomes the inevitable outcome. Whether actually producing a painting or a drawing or observing light or movement or studying a person’s face, seeing is part of a creative life and process. Moving from the urban core of Kansas City to a wilderness environment has changed how I am in the world.  My prayer and contemplative life have taught me that every moment is an opportunity to explore the light within, as well as how it cascades across diverse earth surfaces – from the mountaintop moments, and more importantly, time spent in the valley.

Light and the birthing of new beginnings is the inspiration for our painting titled, “Borderless World”. Peg and I painted this together for our friends, Pam and Gary. Both of them have the gift of birthing ideas into the world through words. Our process of painting together through creating and listening honors the divine presence in one another and with the earth from which we come. It reveals our desire for experiences with the Sacred, beyond any belief about the Sacred. I like to think that this process of making art and holding it in this sacred way offers a key to transformation in our world.

Making time in the day to be true to myself can be a challenge. But art is the underpinning of my life, so even in the distractions of the day, the nuggets of ingredients are being added and gathered as inspiration; and feeling that freedom is exhilarating. As long as I remain faithful to creating art motivated by living in the present, the art, when art does come, will act as a light that illumines not only the existential darkness, but also the world in which we live.

See more conversation in ART and SPIRIT.