Gallery:  Holding Space

Art Title:  Holding Space

Original art by Melanie Weidner
Created April 2020 - 16 x 22 inches
Watercolor, gouache, marker, colored pencil, ink, collage on paper

Statement:
This painting started with the small square of concentric circles and the words "Holding Space."  I quickly realized that trying to protect or carve out spaces here and there in my life was a far too small idea.  In fact, a larger, sacred sense of spaciousness was calling me to fall into it, or participate in what's available to me and us all of the time.  Partway through the painting process, our world began experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic.  Space as we knew it turned on its head when many of us were asked to make distance and choose private spaces over public.  What does it mean in this time to deal with or even welcome an altered sense of spaciousness?  What might we find that our lives before had crowded out?  What will we hear from the messengers of truth if we grow quiet and don't fill the spaces with trying?

See This Dark Night blog post