Buddhist Arts~

My introduction into Buddhism began when I was a child.  Chogdud Tulku Rinpoche visited the intentional Gurdjieff community that I grew up in.  My Mom brought all three of her girls to see him because he was a Tibetan medicine master.

My spiritual path has had many twists and turns, I started officially meditating around age 18 and then had my first 10 day Vipassana sit, as taught by S.N. Goenka at age 20.  Those 10 day sits changed my life and the technique saved my life.

Then in 2006 I met my Buddhist deity dance teacher at a Nepalese Vihara temple in Portland Oregon.  I began learning about the world of deity through dance.

It was 2015 when I officially committed to the Vajrayana path, when I took refuge with Gyaltrul Rinpoche.  I had been painting a large Buddha since 2009.  I found an image I fell in love with, it was a neo drawing of Vajrasattva.  I knew very little about who was Vajrasattva at that point.  Where I took refuge, at Tashi Choling there is a very large Vajrasattva statue outside.

Not long after this I began an agreement with my Buddhist dance teacher, Helen Appell to study Nepalese Buddhist Arts through a grant.  The journey over the next 9 years was immense.  It took me through layers of my karma I cannot put into words here.  I failed in many areas of my studies because I was experiencing a lot of challenging dynamics physically, mentally and emotionally.

It’s been a wild ride, and now I’m no longer ‘studying buddhist arts’ though a grant.  I love Buddhism, and I love what I have learned, but my creative process is far wider than one tradition and one culture.

I love the Mother Earth like a Buddhist loves Mother Tara.  I am going through a period of simplicity with my creative process where I feel most inspired by Nature.  Living near the incredible state park called Smith Rocks has shown me that the land is where I’m most inspired right now.

Inspiration is a powerful energy to feel, it brings clarity to the body and psyche.  Being completely enraptured by beauty is the joy of being alive.  Being in nature brings me this very simply.  Gardening, hiking, meditating outside, doing Qigong, these are my current muses.