INDIGO ARTISTS

JANE CASSIDY

View Jane's Cactus Paintings

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

All of my cactus paintings fall under one title, ‘Honoring Life's Forms’, with subtitles for each. Why cactus? Living in the desert in New Mexico, I see that even within this barren land, life continues and the cactus represent the miracle and determination of survival. I find that cactus can also mimic our own personal experiences. They cluster together, giving each other support as they form their own community. They also intersect each other's paths, much the same way we can have those special encounters as our lives intersect, momentarily, with others.

BIOGRAPHY

I was born into a family of artists in 1955 in a small farming community in northern Indiana. My mother and sister are both artists, and even my great-great aunt was an excellent oil painter. Art was a part of everyday life as I grew up, with art supplies just within an arm's reach.

My formal art studies began in high school and continued in college at Indiana University. I have been trained in several mediums, but I have always preferred painting with acrylic paints because they are fast-drying and nontoxic. The acrylic is very suitable to my technique, and subject matter, as well. Each painting in the cactus series is created with an initial layer of acrylic and sand. This is just the beginning of several layers which then do not contain sand. The technique creates a textured canvas which is a natural match for the subject matter. It is also an organic way to bring the creative process in direct contact with nature.

I am currently devoting all my time to the cactus series, though I have been involved in an array of creative processes. In addition to canvas painting, I have done a series of murals in Indiana. They can be found in private homes, as well as public settings including Purdue University Memorial Union. My favorite artist has always been Henri Rousseau. Even as a very young girl, I was entranced by his innocent depiction of nature's abundance. I saw mystery and magic in his paintings, and I have always been enticed by nature's beauty - my favorite subject matter.

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In the introduction to Eckhart Tolle's book, “A New Earth Awakening to Your Life's Purpose”, I have found a writing which expresses my inspiration for the cactus paintings. The cactus flowers symbolize more than my words can convey. Eckhart Tolle summarizes these feelings in the most profound way.

“As the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were most likely the first thing they came to value that had no utilitarian purpose for them, that is to say, was not linked in some way to survival. They provided inspiration to countless artists, poets, and mystics. Jesus tells us to contemplate the flowers and learn from them how to live. The Buddha is said to have given a “silent sermon” once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mhakasyapa, began to smile. He is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon. According to legend, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later became the origin of Zen.

Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. The feelings of joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition. Without our fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants of which they emerged, would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless. They not only had a scent that was delicate and pleasing to humans, but also brought a fragrance from the realm of spirit. Using the word “enlightenment” in a wider sense than the conventionally accepted one, we could look upon flowers as the enlightenment of plants.”

Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth - Awakening to Your Life's Purposes” - pg. 3 - 4

 

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