Artists explore peace through personal, cultural, and natural themes in ‘VISIONARY: Art from the Heart’ at Langford Art Gallery in Phoenix, as ACPC celebrates its 10th anniversary

By Meg Wade for Ashland.news

Saturday evening, the Langford Art Gallery in Phoenix hosted artists from the show “VISIONARY: Art from the Heart” to speak about their work and their interpretations of the meaning of peace. Organized by Beca Blake of Phoenix Helio, the event was sponsored by the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC).

Irene Kai, co-founder of ACPC, said that she thought asking artists “to explicitly express their vision of peace in images and words activates them to be mindful to act with intention… When enough of us have the same intention to create more peaceful interaction with each other within our families and community, that’s where social change begins.”

September marks the 10th anniversary of the commission. “VISIONARY,” which runs through Sept. 26, is part of their observance of the United Nation’s International Day of Peace. They will also host a community event at Ashland’s World Peace Flame, at Thalden Pavilion on the Southern Oregon University Campus, at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, featuring reflections from ACPC leaders and a performance by the Rogue Valley Peace Choir.

Kai was among the artists who spoke about their work to a crowd of 50 on Saturday night. Kai had two paintings in the show, each depicting a heart, both playing with the image of a core flame within the heart that could not be diminished.

“It’s all about resilience. That’s why I never give up faith,” she said. “This is a painting that I live most of my life. That’s how I can really pour my emotion into this. That pure light — it never gets dark.”

Curating a show that was multigenerational was a core goal for organizer Blake. Those present ranged from established artists to students at Rogue Community College to high school artists such as Blake’s 17-year-old daughter, Hali’aka Locklear.

Locklear’s work placed images of bright color evoking the many cultures and nationalities in her heritage against a starker black and white setting. In one, a face made of national flags is framed by locks of black-and-white hair. In another, three-dimensional paper flowers representing tropical flora from Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Philippines pop out from a flat background of interlocking black and white curves.

Each artist was asked to submit a “peace statement” describing their own understanding of what peace means. In hers, Locklear wrote:

“Peace begins internally, with love and acceptance. My peace started with loving and embracing all the cultures I come from, being a woman of mixed race. Learning to be at peace with myself for being the gray in a black and white world has shown me the only true acceptance to make one feel whole comes from within. Feeling accepted inside myself has allowed me to have peace within myself, thus having peace and acceptance for others because I truly have it for myself.

Many other artists drew connections between peace and the natural world.

Tiziana DellaRovere merged the concept of the “Mother Tree” with religious images of Mary cloaking and protecting humans souls, replacing the humans with animals.

“When my heart is heavy and my body is fluttering in the winds of stress, I go to my garden and at the roots of the Mother Tree and she loves me deep into the soil of the Earth,” DellaRovere wrote in her statement.

Artist Jane Ellen integrated a natural symbol already associated with peace, the crane, into her work, an installation featuring branches that reached out from the wall and held both a single, large “mother crane” and a nest of smaller 1,000 folded paper cranes, with another 100 cranes within that. Inside each smaller crane Ellen wrote by hand the phrase “humanity led we are one,” and inside the mother crane, “living love.”

“Creating a Culture of Peace requires unwavering commitment, choosing vulnerability for the sake of love, and courageous presence to all that prevents us from living into and fostering genuine peace,” Ellen wrote in her statement. “Choosing to live a humanity-led life of bold self-reflection, accountability and personal transformation naturally weaves a strong container to foster the well-being and peace of fellow human beings. Humanity led, we are one!”

Some let the natural world speak to them through their process. Wataru Sugiyama shared with attendees about listening to the stone that became his sculpture “Prayer for Peace,” to see what it wanted to be, and how after months he began to have an idea as “she [the stone] started trusting me.” Then, after he had begun sculpting, a spider took up residence on the sculpture. Sugiyama at first went to move the spider away, then stopped: “Is this stone mine? No. It doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to Mother Earth. To other lifeforms too. So I cannot clean up the spiderweb there. Because this stone invited in the other life,” Sugiyama shared.

Water was another common theme. Abby Lazerow said she focused on water “to inspire feelings of calm, quiet, and tranquility” with her painting.

Tiffany Coffan Wyatt assembled an installation that focused specifically on local waters. Speaking to the crowd on Saturday, Coffan Wyatt said she was trying “to raise awareness and money for the work of these conservation groups to protect the amazing local network of natural springs,” and described the interactive process in which she “asked participants to write down their wishes and attentions for the future of these vulnerable springs along the Miracle Mile in Phoenix. I then submerged these heartfelt intentions, which are hanging up over there, in the same local waters to create a vibrant one-of-a-kind sample of water to imbue this art.“

The “Miracle Mile” refers to a mile-long stretch along the Bear Creek Greenway where multiple cold water springs have been rediscovered and are being reconnected to Bear Creek. Participants from Save the Phoenix Wetlands, including hydrologist Robert Coffan, were present Saturday.

Asked to reflect on the evening’s theme and his work in restoring the streams, Coffan said, “So many people are focusing on how we can create peace among humanity — and some times I go back before that and think about the peace of the entire planet, go back to the water and how the backdrop of peace is created by our fresh waters.”

The connection between water and peace will be highlighted once more on the show’s final day. “VISIONARY” will close with a special water ceremony at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26.

Email Ashland resident and freelance journalist Meg Wade at news@megwade.net.