Cave Ladder Magic Lantern

Cave Ladder Magic Lantern is part of my 'magic lantern' series. This series of magic lantern drawings that I made over the years was inspired by a technique many of us learned in kindergarten, playing with crayons and black paint. First drawing with colors, then covering with black and scratching through the surface to reveal the illumination beneath the darkness. This is a good metaphor for making art, for me, scratching below the surface, uncovering the luminous within the outer layers. Bounded by the four directions, the cave is a place of meditation, a place of contact with the Divine within, where, after striving to connect the Higher worlds with the lower, via the metaphorical ladder, the initiate rebirths herself. Painted in oil stick on acid free archival Arches artist paper, the piece glows from within. Read more about my work in my artist statement, Creating Spiritual Art for the New Millenium and resume.