numinous (adj): having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of a divinity

These pieces developed concurrently with a budding interest in spiritual architecture, and I hope to express a property of numinosity through them. Crucially, I have chosen to work with media that resist the urge to alter with caprice. Ink, once dripped into the substrate, demands to be worked with and around rather than be replaced or overridden. As well, pencil can be a formidable medium - too much erasure of graphite leads to an erosion of the surface beneath. Paper is a delicate material which quietly makes its presence known, all the while commanding a tone of transcendence. I work with these supplies because of the level of commitment I find is necessary to them. They bear significance to my markmaking, which resembles a potential process in spiritual pursuits: a fascination with the process itself, underscored by a push-and-pull of adherence to ritual and an attitude of exploration.

As I conducted visual research on churches, temples, monasteries, and more, space opened up in my work that was less purely negative and more positive, formally speaking. The positive elements, the abstract translations of figure and landscape, became bolder, while maintaining a metaphysical quality. The depictions of movement, abstract and concrete, reflect a pervading tone of spiritual quest. Movement is the practice and the result, the means and the end, and my process of creation mimics this as I travel back and forth across the substrate, my heightened awareness resulting from the delicacy of the paper and the commitment of each mark. Color choices result from a compulsion to broaden beyond the neutral palette that has been typical of my work up to this point. With the application of a new color, I am confronted with the duty of deciding among formal options: balance and rhythm, especially, are vital to the conduction of energy throughout the work.

Lines and forms gather to illustrate maps, blueprints, and figure studies of sacred spaces, and their inhabitants, totems, landscapes, and symbolic languages. Layers within the cosmos; parallel worlds; paths among layers of consciousness: the earthly structures I study are meant to house seekers of these considerations of a spiritual life. My hope forthgoing is to create in a visual language that evinces aspects of contemplation that are at once private and universal.

sarah wise

sarah wise