Welcome to the Opening and Exhibition of My Wisdom
Welcome to our 2nd online exhibition featuring the work of some of our artists made in Magical Women’s online art-making workshops. Other artists also contributed their artwork to our theme, My Wisdom. Please do share this event with friends, family and people who might love a wander through our online art exhibition. This exhibition has been curated by an autistic/ADHD neurodivergent and Disabled female artist.
Donations are welcome at the end of the exhibition to go towards our work of platforming the art and words of artists who lack the access to make, share and talk about their art with new and wider audiences.
This exhibition is best viewed on a computer or laptop.
Access Needs:
This Audio Description is Part 1 of the Exhibition and runs from the beginning of the exhibition to Wisdom Interpreted.
For Part 2 move down to Wisdom Interpreted - painting (19) “Listening Within”
Press the orange play button (button is far left of the Soundcloud frame.)
(1) The Wise Woman (of the forest), photograph by Elinor Rowlands, Wise Woman is Tiina Kaila (2018)
(2)
My Wisdom, Mediums: skull, yellow acrylic paint, micron pens, hot glue, and imitation jewels by Shauna K. Kappers, 2020
The skull was a found item from another artist. I cleaned it myself, and this ritual was meant to pay respect, if you like, to death as a concept. I have always been brought up to respect the dead. As I painted her, I felt as if I were making a new covering, a new skin, and holding her memory in my hands. This, I translated by delicately stippling fauna and mandala based imagery to reflect other rituals and customs of ancient peoples and how they mark rich symbolism on their skin and in nature. In turn, making this gave me an opportunity to preserve the intimate and personal history of something forgotten, and soon this creature was given a new life. I added the webbing of glue to her eye sockets, thinking of spiders, and how their web serves both purpose for survival and for attracting life.
The jewels inside her eyes reflect the light, sparkling rainbows to give a brighter outlook and new sight.
- Skull Artist
(3) Painting by Elinor Rowlands
“Wisdom is yellow.
Yellow is wisdom.
The colour yellow represents:
wisdom
mental force, curiosity, insight
Yellow is
intuition and sensitivity.
Magical Women are highly sensitive
Highly intuitive
Highly Curious
With a High Mental Force
Magical Women are wise.
People who have yellow in their auras are most likely the ones who can light up a room but not necessarily;
they are the thinkers;
the ones who never stop thinking.
(They are the quiet ones.)
And the ones who burst out trickles, splatters, sunshines of energy, thoughts, words, dribbles, ideas.
Wise are the ones who don’t sit back and observe.
(Those are mistaken for being wise - but no, those who sit back and observe are ego.)
Wise is different;
Wise are instead shushed, they are so often told to “calm down”.
Yellow is the colour male filmmakers use in horror films to depict women gone mad.
the yellow wallpaper.
Yellow is the colour of the centre of the flower, the flowering bloom; the opening bud,
the women overthinking
the women dreaming.
When someone begins to be in tune with their higher consciousness, in tune with their art materials, gathering together brightening up the corners of their spaces;
then this is when Magical Women encourages your highest self; burning bright yellow;
art is made, you are centred. You burn bright.
It will often be one of the strongest colours in your aura field; a sign of warmth; a warming attitude.
Like the energy of a bright sunny day, yellow brings clarity and awareness.
Some people never feel the reach of sunshine in them, thinking too much of greed, succumbing to a life sparse of starlight;
Wisdom has nothing to do with privilege,
Wisdom is not intelligence or who is highest up in life,
it goes beyond the human field,
into somewhere else, beyond, above, floating high, a brimming warmth, a love, a care, a smile, a knowing, from learning, from connecting, from realising
wisdom is realisation. ”
(4) Golden Field by Julia Harris
Golden Field
Universe. Energy. Life. Golden Field.
Flow of Energy
Flow of Information
Field of Love
The only thing existing and traveling is Love
and all its relationships.
Form is a structure Love takes
in a moment of relationship.
Everything is Love.
Anything I cannot see as Love, I know I do not understand.
Words by Julia Harris
(5) Photography by Willemien Barnard
For me, it is to have the wisdom to trust in my skills. Be confident and trust the process. If it is wrong, learn from it. Enjoy the time to be creative and [it’s about] doing something for yourself
- Liz Coolen
(7) Mediums: Acrylic and Tempera Paints, painting by Elizabeth Coolen
“It was a beautiful experience to see the collective wisdom that came through all of the work during that session... and connected us together even through we were working remotely and independently. ”
(9) “Holding Space”, (Mixed media and collage on paper) by Michelle Rodrigues, 2020
Made during a Magical Women “Making Space” workshop
(11) Photography by Willemien Barnard
Wisdom is to wander.
To wander in.
(13) Photography by Colly Metcalfe, 2020
Wisdom is to be still
A holding.
(15) Lockdown by Willemien Barnard
(17) Made during a Magical Journey Workshop, drawn by Emma Reavey
Wisdom is a pause.
A silence.
Wisdom is a witness.
Wisdom is a figure
Wisdom is a figure who watches.
Wisdom watches.
Wisdom are the Watchers.
(6) Forget the view, look at the sunset, 19th April, 2020 - Elinor Rowlands
(8) Wisdom by Tiina Kaila
(10) Intuitive Painting by Anna Dyson
Wisdom is a silence.
A pause.
A quiet nod to the wonder.
(12) Photography by Willemien Barnard
Wisdom is a grounding.
Feet on the ground.
(14) Photography by Colly Metcalfe
Wisdom is a stillness in the remembering
A remembrance, remembering.
(16) Wisdom Giveth Life, video and performance by Rebecca Buckle
Wisdom Giveth Life.
The unhappiest point in my life was undoubtedly my teens and that unhappiness was rooted in my experiences at a highly competitive grammar school. The mental and physical health problems that developed during this period have affected the rest of my adult life and this video represents, through physicality, the enormous sense of unvoiced pressure and anxiety I felt during this period. Our school motto was “Wisdom Giveth Life”.- Rebecca Buckle, Video.
My Wisdom
(18) My Wisdom, Acrylic on paper - Judith Rowlands
I
The Wise Woman knows that wrinkles mark her age.
She is no stranger to the servitude of time.
She has lived and loved,
closed her eyes
and opened them
a long way from her prime.
But like the rings of a tree these lines record the years
And like the words she utters so quietly ,
They have many meanings.
They tell her story.
They tell of a life that has been lived, loved and heard.
But she knows that her Wisdom is not old, nor is it worn and weary.
Like trees reborn each year,
Her wisdom sees the world
over and over again
With new eyes freely.
II
It is not that those who grow old are wise
For those born foolish grow old foolish too.
They do not change with age.
Wisdom is not acquired.
It can be practised and improved on.
But the wise child is born and
Blossoms into a wise being.
Words and Painting by Judith Rowlands
(made during a “Making Space for Art” Magical Women Workshop)
Wisdom Interpreted
Audio Description that brings the paintings alive to meet your access needs of experiencing the artwork. (If we get some more funding we hope to be able to pay an ENT to transcribe these audio descriptions to provide text scripts/transcripts.)
Part 2 from “Wisdom Interpreted” (or the painting/poem before this (18) towards the ending painting (30.)
(19) “Listening Within” (Mixed media on paper) by Michelle Rodrigues, 2020
“Recently my sister recollected a past dream in which she had been given a blue shell to place inside her ear to enable her to hear the wisdom of the Divine in the midst of unknowing.
I was very moved by the her powerful dream imagery. So much so, that a shell emerged quite fluidly and unexpectedly while I was making this image.
I love the symbolism of the blue shell in the dream — an assurance that we have the capacity already within us to connect with our higher power for guiding assurance in times of despair, pain, grief and suffering. The recollection of this dream seems timely in the global uncertainty we’re all facing currently.”
Wise Women
(20) Intuitive Painting by Anna Dyson
(21) Unraveling of Yourself, Watercolour by Emily Baines
(22) Coloured Drawing by Emma Reavey, made during a Magical Journeys Magical Women workshop, 2020
(23) Coloured pencils on black paper by Shauna K. Kappers, made during a Magical Women “Magical Journeys” workshop, 2020
“My wisdom is to reverse the narrative that
chastity = purity.”
(24) Pencil on paper, drawn during a Magical Women “Making Space” Workshop, by Jasmine Crellin
(25) The Unraveling Once Not Seen, Watercolour on paper by Emily Baines
(26) Coloured pencils on black paper, drawn by Shauna K. Kappers, 2020 (Made during a “Magical Journeys” workshop).
(27) Butterfly photography by Willemien Barnard
“The most beautiful girl in the world.
I love capturing these images before my daughter wakes up.
When she woke I asked her what she had been dreaming about?
My Little Ponies.
Lovely.”
(28) Photograph and words by Kate Taylor-Marshall
In her awakened state she is wild and free.
A tenacious ball of energy.
Ready to pounce on her next discovery, create worlds within worlds, dance, run, laugh, hug, sing, scream out in pure relief from the sparks alive within her.
But for now, she is still.
But for now, she is dreaming.
(29) In a Finnish Forest They Are Dancing With Me, (The Trees; My Ancestors), Photograph by Elinor Rowlands
In Solidarity Artists
Every exhibition we platform In Solidarity survivor and neurodivergent artists to contribute their art and words towards our theme. We thank them for their particularly poignant contributions to end our exhibition.
“My wisdom was best used in advocacy. Deny knowing anything. Commit to trying. Commit to asking questions, commit to achieving the best that is possible. Yet as an artist I trust what I know and remain open to my flow. Only editing when the chance arises and I’ve edited this thrice”
My wisdom
My wisdom
in forgetting what I know
so other things might grow
go blank
on sheets of paper
tabla rasa
remain open
open to learning
again
those things I knew
from new angles
with new voices
new opinions
underpinning
new directions
waking up
each day
refreshed
to start again
return to 12 bars
E, A, B7
strong habits
practice
protract
process
practice
to sleep
to forget
to start again
my wisdom
it is true
forgets all
the wisdom knew
as I trawl on
as I do
the same old way
day after day
Words by Richard Downes.
(30) The Watchers (2020) by Colin Hambrook (Oil painting)
The Watchers
This stage is one of the first large oil paintings I've done in a few years. It's inspired by Kingley Vale - one of Europe's most impressive yew forests with an area where the trees are 2,000 years old. This ancient grove is called The Watchers for obvious reasons. It is imbued with an atmosphere unlike anywhere else - a place where nature spirits abide. The way the trees have grown resembles a mangrove as the boughs and branches form random undefined networks. The boles of these giants have a girth of up to 32 feet. Typically the shades of colour in the trunks range from vivid reds to deep viridian greens. It's a place where people come to give thanks to nature, creating small shrines in amongst the nooks and crannies using material gathered from the forest floor. So, as you can see there's still a lot to capture before this painting is finished.
- Colin Hambrook
Our next Making Space for Art Workshop is this upcoming Wednesday 6th May at 10:00am. Our more guided workshop is this Sunday, 26th April at 6:00pm.
Buy your tickets HERE (Scholarships available).
Buy your tickets HERE (Scholarships available).
Art Sales
If you would like to purchase an art-piece, please add the number of the painting/photograph in the subject line to enquire about the price. Please enquire HERE. Not all art will be for sale but some will be and we do this in a relaxed way so that artists feel able to make more informed decisions only if someone is interested in purchasing a piece of work. Thank you for understanding our neurodivergent way.
Recommended Donation: £3.00
For the price of a coffee, donate to support our work. We are neurodivergent (ASD/ADHD female artists) and create empowering and accessible spaces for artists who lack access to them.
Only donate if you’re able to and you can.
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Just took the audio tour of My Wisdom exhibition. It was amazing (5 Stars!) I love listening to you speak about art Elinor! You bring such a deep respect and reverence as you consider each artwork, and how the pieces correlate with others in the show. I really appreciate the depths of your insights. Listening to you speak about the work adds so much richness and brings everything together so cohesively. I am grateful for this work you are doing with Magical Women, and so happy to be able to be a part of it.
- Michelle (Artist in the Exhibition)
Thank you so much for coming.
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