The Priestess archetype from the Tarot is a card we need to call on now, in these unstable times. She signifies both strength and softness, a balance of Ying & Yang energies. She is the messenger and uses her intuition and self-trust to do what’s best. She holds the scroll of wisdom, poised for change and a coming into unity. The spirals on her skirt indicate renewal and regeneration towards a healthy change for Mother Earth.
At this moment in time, we need the wisdom of Divine Feminine to guide us through the labyrinth of government to ensure enlightenment on the other side. Nancy Pelosi fills those shoes as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She embodies the Priestess archetype, standing her ground for justice. May she be strong and resilient and gather support from both aisles of the political parties to do what needs to be done.
Let their heads roll at her feet! It’s a time for unity – but not a time to gloss over the crimes directed at our democracy. Unity comes after Impeachment. May this modern day Priestess and her cohorts do what needs to be done to create a peaceful transition for the Biden and Harris administration.
Sometimes you create a piece of art because of the materials you have available to you. This is especially true during the Covid-19 lock down. I had this beautiful large sheet of amate paper, a hand-made paper made in a village near Puebla, Mexico, rolled up in a corner and nearly forgotten. I bought the paper for the size, 45″ x 97″ – finding paper that size isn’t easy – so you grab it when you can. But the sheer beauty of it also attracted me. I bought a couple of sheets from the maker who was traveling through Mazatlan a number of years ago.
The Beginning
In June, I unfurled and tacked the huge paper up on my sheetrock wall in my studio (in San Miguel de Allende) not knowing what I was going to do – without a plan. That’s my normal modus operandi: show up at the page and see what happens. I’d thought I might cut it into 3 pieces after I got started. And since I’ve been working figuratively, I began in the center – sketching in a rough figure with charcoal.
Three Figures emerge
I love working with charcoal, although it is very messy. It’s a very sensual medium, one you have to get your hands into. A push/pull of black and white, adding and subtracting, making marks and erasing. Smearing, rubbing, softening with fingers, rags, and erasures. As the figures took form, the symbols began to emerge from the page as well – the moon, the circle, the bird, wings, the spiral, the ouroboros (snake), and flowers.
The final piece!
I began to see the power in the full size paper – no way was I going to cut it into three pieces! It won’t be easy to frame or exhibit, but art is not practical and we don’t make practical choices in the studio.
As the figures emerged, a story developed and The Sacred Feminine Trilogy came to life. On the left is ‘Strength’ – a young woman turns towards center one hand in a fist, in defiance – “a don’t mess with me stance”. A bird sits on her shoulder, another hovers nearby, possibly her Spirit Guides. In the center is ‘Spirit’ – one hand upturned to receive, the other to give back, a sacred mudra or hand gesture. She stands in front of the Full Moon, a sacred feminine symbol if there ever was one, her wings fully in place – suggesting she is a spiritual entity. The Ouroboros, the snake eating its tail, encircles the moon, an ancient symbol for renewal and the cycle of life. On the right is ‘Abundance’ – the Mother, pregnant and abundant with life. She holds white Cala lilies in front of her stomach – a symbol for fertility – and looks towards ‘Spirit‘ for guidance.
The viewer’s interpretation is as valid as the artist’s. What do you read into the Trilogy? Enjoy!
Throne for a Goddess, sculptural seating, front view
My newest public sculpture, Throne for a Goddess, installed in Austria in September, has launched a fundraiser to benefit a Mexican based non-profit organization that empowers women through education – Mujeres en Cambio (Women in Change). Visit their website to learn more about their good work.
“This project is all about empowering and honoring women – from the ancient to the present”.
Since I couldn’t be in Austria for the opening due to covid travel restrictions, I wanted to raise awareness of my newest public sculpture and offer something locally as well. To that end, I created a beautiful golden print that reflects the imagery of the sculpture and benefits young women. I partnered with the San Miguel de Allende non-profit, Mujeres en Cambio, and offered them 40% of the sales.
This archival, limited edition digital print, 11.5” x 8.5”, is signed and numbered by the artist.
Mujeres en Cambio was a logical choice since they empower young women in rural communities by offering scholarships for their education. In Mexico, education is only free through the 6th grade. In 2019 the organization gave scholarships to 187 girls from 46 villages in rural San Miguel. V.P. Trish Leaven said, “these times are greatly affecting how NGO’s like ours continue to raise funds to support our young women, so offers like hers (Glen’s) are truly appreciated.”
The Throne for a Goddess commemorative print is 11.5” x 8.5” and is an archival, limited edition digital print, signed and numbered by the artist. The prints are $100USD or $2100 MXN each. Your Purchase of a Print Empowers Young Women Through Education! Purchase your print on my website:glenrogersart.com
The Seed of an Idea becomes a Reality
So how did this public sculpture come about? In September 2019, I was in Europe for a group exhibition in Ghent, Belgium called Crossing Borders. After the show, my friend and I traveled to Austria where we visited her cousins in Vienna and later her extended family in Weiz in the beautiful countryside of Styria.
Glen visiting the real Venus of Willendorf
Sitting around the dinner table on our first night in Vienna, I asked our hosts if there were any Neolithic Goddess sites to explore nearby. (Visiting sacred sites is a passion of mine, one that I’ve been pursuing for many years, thus my book, Art and Sacred Sites: Connecting with Spirit of Place.) To my utter surprise, they told me that the Venus of Willendorf, one of the oldest and most celebrated Paleolithic goddess sculptures, was housed in The Natural History Museum in Vienna. With a feeling of reverence and excitement, we paid her a visit the very next day! Housed in a special room with only a few other artifacts, the Venus was incased in a glass cube – all 6” of her. She was exquisitely carved in stone during the ice age, almost 30,000 years ago, and was discovered in Willendorf, lower Austria in 1908.
The Venus of Willendorf has become an icon for women everywhere, with her characteristic voluptuous shape, she is a fertility symbol honoring women as life-givers. She is an archetype that points to ancient goddess cultures and matriarchal societies. For me, this image of the Great Mother is a symbol of female empowerment, a reminder of who we are and where we came from.
Kunstpark St. Ruprecht/Raab sculpture park:
During our stay in Austria, our host took us to Weiz, and on the way, stopped to show us a new sculpture park in St. Ruprecht/Raab where he had a piece. The park which is beautifully laid out like a giant peace symbol, already had 20 to 25 sculptures by local artists. We met Wolfgang Neffe, the initiator of the park and shortly after, I made a proposal. I wanted to honor the Venus of Willendorf, this Austrian artifact that symbolizes the Sacred Feminine – the primary motivation for my art for many years.
The sculpture was fabricated in Austria by the Binder Company where I worked closely with Jitka Derler, an artist herself. Jitka totally related to the goddess imagery that was the basis for the work and we worked well together inspite of our language barrier and the physical distance between us. Throne for a Goddess was installed at Kunstpark St. Ruprecht/Raab on September 9th, 2020.
The final Throne is made of gold-tone anodized aluminum on the front and steel with rust patina for the back and stands 6.5 feet tall by 34” wide.
Throne for a Goddess is an interactive sculpture where visitors are invited to sit and feel the energy of the Great Mother: Rest in the Warm Embrace of the Goddess, the Great Mother, the Divine Feminine. Feel Her Nurturing Love and Offer of Abundance and Prosperity. Sit in Her Lap of Fertility and Plant a Seed for your Dreams and New Beginnings.
Back side of the Throne is made of rusted steel.
More of my public sculpture can be seen on my website: Beacon, Campbell, CA; Three Wings, Stockton, CA; Web of Life, Chico, CA; Spirit Gate and Meditation Bench, San Jose, CA. https://www.glenrogersart.com/sculpture-
This deck of 50 oracle cards is a contemporary approach to an ancient tradition. The images were inspired by universal symbols that honor Mother Earth and the Sacred Feminine. I created the artwork, both paintings and prints, over a 30-year period.
Use these Spirit Cards as a companion on your journey of self-discovery. Open your mind, heart and spirit to the messages you receive and use them as a form of meditation and contemplation.
A boxed deck, cards are 5 3/8″ x 3 1/2″. Includes guidebook with introduction and interpretations.
Spirit Cards were conceived during the covid quarantine, a silver lining to troubling times.
Order your cards on my website: $30 usd plus shipping. Add a beautiful gold organza bag for your cards – $5.00
‘Allegory of the Spirit’, oil on canvas, 56″ x 56″
I made a decision a while back that I wasn’t going to post my political views on social media. Most of my friends are on the same page – so there’s no need to preach to the choir. And those who don’t share my politics, some family and friends, mainly from the past, will not be swayed by my posts and in fact may be alienated. So what’s the point? Better to focus on my art and what I consider uplifting words and images.
But there comes a moment when Silence is not the correct response. I am apalled, saddened, embarassed, and disgusted that such blatant racism is still rearing its ugly head in the U.S. That white supremacy has a choke hold on our country. That we have a president who continually encourages racism and applauds violence. This latest incident, the murder of George Floyd, is so despicable it hurts to talk about it. My heart goes out to his family and to the human race.
I was raised in Mississippi and still carry the guilt of my forefathers and mothers. I witnessed racism throughout my childhood from a privileged position and experienced the move from segregation to integration in highschool. After all this country went through in the 60’s, the pain and suffering on both sides, why is there still such rampant inequality and abuse? We are all created equally. I pray for a Martin Luther King, Jr, a ‘Jesus’, a Mother Teresa to deliver us from the mess we’ve found ourselves in. Or maybe its up to us, each one of us, as individuals.
I’ve been looking to some of our great teachers of the day for positive thoughts and hope for the future. These are totally taken out of context and pieced together like a quilt:
From Oprah: Be a Warrior of the Light. Use your gifts to illuminate the darkness in the world. Find a way to serve. Turn your wounds into wisdom.
From Deepak Chopra: With love and action, we can create a new story. What is the vision? Joy, peace, a new humanity. Don’t fight the darkness – Bring on the Light. Live a love-centered life.
From Caroline Myss: We are built for this moment. Every act of goodness counts.
Here, my painting, Lotus Unfolding, literally unfolds before your eyes, layer by layer.
In a previous Blog https://artandsacredsites.com/2020/03/18/life-and-art-in-the-time-of-covid-19/ I talked about the painting commission I had during the first couple of months of the Covid Pandemic while I was sheltering in place. I loved having the opportunity to create something special and focus on this large-scale oil painting, 39″ x 77″.
The transformative lotus is an image that I’ve used in my work many times over the years. The petals unfolding never fail to soothe me, to embrace me and to help me transcend the ordinary. You can read more about the Lotus in my book, Symbols of the Spirit: A Meditative Journey Through Art. (https://www.glenrogersart.com/copy-of-books-1)
While working on the painting, I began photographing each step to document my progress. It was meant as a tool for me to study as I went along. So it literally shows how I built the painting – the layering of colors – easing my way towards completion. I hope you enjoy the sequence.
Ofcourse the title is a nod to Love in the Time of Cholera a novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. And folks, we are living it – in the here and now – a crisis pandemic in our times. So what’s an artist to do?
I feel lucky that I just received a commission for a large painting. A 3′ x 6 1/2′ canvas. A transformative lotus – an image that I’ve used in my work many times over the years. The petals unfolding never fail to soothe me, to embrace me and to help me transcend the ordinary.
Sketch for Painting
From my book, Symbols of the Spirit: A Meditative Journey Through Art: Incorporating the lotus into my artwork is meant as a spiritual metaphor, not just the image of a beautiful flower. Using simple graphic strokes, I try to capture the hidden aura of the plant and reveal an ethereal side of nature. Jung said that the symbol (any symbol) is the psychological mechanism for transforming energy. Through this simple form, I attempt to transform a blank canvas into something mystical, giving the viewer a spiritual connection through my art.
1. So during this time of uncertainty (and mass histeria!), I will hole-up in my studio and create.
2. I’ve also decided to amp up my spiritual practice and do my yoga and meditation every day (up until now, it was 2 or 3 times a week). But I have plenty of time – so I’m going for it!
3. Pull a Tarot card each day (Also a practice I’ve been doing once a week for many years). Yesterday I pulled 2 of Discs: Change. The only constant and it is cyclic. For the purpose of re-balancing. For revealing to us that which is knowable and that which is unfamiliar. Changes in the External reality – and Internal changes that are expansive and positive.
Today I pulled The Hanged Man: The Pattern Breaker. Somethimes it’s necessary to take a distinctly different posture to get un-stuck. Time to trust the deeper aspects of who we are.
See how these nuggets of wisdom can make us contemplate and go deeper? (These abbreviated readings from Angeles Arriens’ The Tarot Handbook).
I realize this forced social distancing and self quarantine is a hardship for many. Believe me, I’m not trying to make light of the situation we are all in. But what if we thought of our forced home stay as agift of time? How will you use your gift?
“Celebrate endings—for they precede new beginnings.” —Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Reflections on 2019
It’s been a great year of art and travel, exhibiting, teaching, curating, learning, sharing with old friends and extended family and making new friends and connections around the world. Some of the highlights of my year:
Exhibiting at La Huipilista Artspace, San Miguel de Allende; in the Poéticas de Arte Contemporáneo, Dolores Hidalgo and Mexico City; and at GAP: Crossing Borders in Ghent, Belgium. Opening (and closing) Galeria Espiral in San Miguel’s Fabrica Aurora gave me valuable exposure, art sales and taught me what I did and did not want.
Publishing my second book, Symbols of the Spirit, gave me the opportunity to expand my audience and to give book talks at La Huipilista Artspace and Camino Silvestre ; Open Ground Studios, Triton Museum of Art and Richmond Art Center (Thanks to CSP!) in California.
Teaching my Monoprint Workshops allowed me to share my techniques and philosophy of art with wonderful artists (this year in my studio in San Miguel and at Open Ground Studios, California).
Curating two more Plastic Madness exhibitions (Casa Europa, San Miguel and Mazatlan Convention Center/Baupres Gallery) extended the message of the global plastic problem and led to upcoming exhibits in Columbia in 2020 (thanks to all the artists and fellow organizers!).
Traveling around Mexico, the U.S. and Europe enriched my life through new inspiration and allowed me to explore, commune & collaborate. Highlights were doing a house exchange and making prints in Sauve, France and a new opportunity for a public art piece outside of Vienna Austria, Throne for a Goddess, (more to come!). And believe it or not, it wasn’t all about art – I attended a very special McCrory family reunion in Kentucky where I re-connected with 25+ family members.
I am grateful that my art serves as a connector and allows me to share a message of honoring Mother Nature and the Sacred Feminine. Through the universal symbols that I’ve focused on for 25 years to my recent Return to the Figure (my upcoming show at Baupres Gallery, Mazatlan in February), the message in my prints, paintings, drawings, artist books and public art remains true and connected to the heart.
A sincere thank you to those who have been with me along my artistic journey!
May your dreams and creativity soar to make our world a better place!
On a recent visit to France, I visited one of the last prehistoric caves sites open to the public where one can see authentic paintings from the paleolithic era. The Niaux Grotto is located in the northern foothills of the Pyrenees, just south of the French town of Foix. I made us a reservation months in advance for 1:30 in the afternoon – enough time, I thought, to drive from the small village of Sauve. We booked a rental car and set off – GPS said 3 1/2 hours to get there. It took 4 hours and we barely made our tour! Driving in a foreign country, sometimes on small windy roads, not knowing where we were going or if we would make it on time, added to a slightly stressful adventure.
But we did make it (at 1:15) and it was worth the stress! Like my traveling companion said, this was a once in a lifetime experience. (Actually, this was my third cave visit (See my blogs), but equally exciting. Ofcourse, no photography was allowed and veryone was given a flashlight to maneuver the unlit cave.
Once inside the cathedral like space, I felt a serenity and a connection to the ancients who walked this space 15,000years before us. On the left, a figure of a woman (not a painting- a spirit) greeted me. (This is not in the guide books, folks!) She was there to the left outlined in the gold and white granite rock. I pointed her out to my friend and she saw her as well. This sign of the sacred feminine spoke to me and let her presence known. Perhaps she created some of these drawings and wanted me to know it. Thats my story and Im sticking to it!
‘Lady of the Cave III”, Monoprint, 10″ x 8″‘Lady of the Cave II’, Monoprint, 10″ x 8″
As we moved further into the cave, our guide pointed out the beautiful drawings made with black carbon – horses, bison, mountain goat, ibis etc. There was often a layering of images – implying motion and one could tell many hands created these images over time. One never knows what will inspire the artist – in my case it was something even more mysterious and ethereal than the ancient cave drawings themselves. It was the spirit of the cave and perhaps a whisper in my ear…
“Los Tesoros del Pueblo”, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 60cm, 2019
I was recently invited by curator Maximiliano Grego to be in a group exhibition, Poeticas del Arte Contemporaneo, in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato at the Bicentenario Museo. Each artist was given a them, usually a poem to inspire their work. I was given the theme of the Otomi women (indigenous to the area) and their tradition of stamping their tortillas for fiestas and special occasions – perfect for me since I recently returned to the figure. “Los Tesoros del Pueblo” was the result. I used real stamps for the tortilla designs I had bought previously.
My artist statement:
I hold an image in my mind’s eye of women at the hearth. It’s an ancient universal vision that transcends local culture and is found in every corner of the world. Women cooking at the heart of the home or working over a communal fire is a traditional theme. She, as giver of life, provides strength and cohesiveness to the family and the community in many ways. In ‘Los Tesoros del Pueblo’, her arms encircle an offering of sustenance and healing. In Mexico, tortillas, central to each meal, remain a treasure of the culture.
I was told that in ancient times, the Otomi were a
matrilineal culture and they worshipped the moon as the highest deity. Mother Earth was also celebrated for the
bounty of her harvest. As in many cultures, it’s the women who keep the stories,
the traditions and the symbols alive. The tortilla, a small round shape, patted
out by hand is itself an archetype – the circle, a symbol of wholeness and
universality.
The Otomi women embellish their tortillas with designs
using sacred imagery. Each family has its own seal carved out of wood from the
mesquite tree and the dark purple dye from the muicle plant is used to stamp
the images. These circular woodcut designs are passed down from generation to
generation and used to print the tortillas for special celebrations and fiestas.
It is a testament to the Otomi women that this ritual remains alive to honor
the ancestors and preserve ancient traditions.
As an artist, I take my inspiration from symbols and artefacts that honor women and the divine feminine from cultures around the world. My two books document these influences on my art: Art & Sacred Sites: Connecting with Spirit of Place and Symbols of the Spirit: A Meditative Journey Through Art.
