Page 4 - For the purpose of this essay when I refer to ‘spirit’ ‘devine’ or ‘spirituality’ I am referring

Introduction

The nature of my study is an examination of the awareness spirituality plays within the
process of creation by painters both historically and in contemporary practice and its
relevance in conveying divinity or spirituality within their work.
For the purpose of this essay when I refer to ‘spirit’, ‘divine’, or ‘spirituality’,
I’m not necessarily referring to organised religious groups but more so I'm referring to
the belief that creativity can allow us to tap into our higher selves, which has been
referred to as God, Spirit, energy or soul, this can open us to being inspired and allows
us to sense, see and feel without the influence of the ego. Therefore I believe that being
open to divine influence is an essential part of the creative process for the artist,
producing work that can engage the viewer in a spiritual experience.
Eileen Kane (1997, p.81) writes in an extract from ‘Neglected Wells’ that,
‘The word ‘spirituality’, understood in its broadest sense, refers, as we know, to the life
of spirit that is, spirit as opposed to matter. But it has also the meaning of ‘that which is
concerned with sacred or religious things.’ Although I would argue this description
does not fully articulate the whole description of spirituality, as I believe spirituality
refers also to matter, to the trinity often referred to by Christianity as well as other
religions.
As Neal Donald Walsh (1997, p.30-31) describes in his book ‘Conversations
with God, book one,’ ‘This Triune Reality is God’s signature. It is the divine pattern.
The three-in-one is everywhere found in the realms of the sublime. You cannot escape
it in matters dealing with time and space, God and consciousness, or any of the subtle
relationships’. He then goes on to say, ‘Some of your religionists have described the
Triune Truth as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Some of your psychiatrists use the terms
super conscious, conscious and subconscious. Some of your spiritualists say mind,
body and spirit. Some of your scientists see energy, matter, ether.’ I believe this Triune
suggests all that is matter and spirit alike makes up the divine.
As western Europeans we tend to see spiritual art as predominantly
Christian or religious based, but the Buddhist tradition also acknowledges this spiritual
dimension in art, as Yonten Rabje (http://www.artesian-art.org/article4.pdf) writes in
his essay, ‘Art as a means of spiritual elevation,’ ‘Art is the most rapid vehicle, after
prayer, for connecting directly with one’s Buddha-nature,’ Rabje, a Buddhist monk,
lives at Samye Ling Tibetan Centre where, in retreat, he began to paint for the first time
in his life. He said, ‘Art without spirituality gradually dies out. Because art, unlike other
means of intellectual production, is an activity that is essentially of our Buddha-nature’.
It can be difficult to refer to spirituality without making reference to the religions of the
world, and indeed it cannot be denied the contribution organised religions have made to
the world of art, but those references at times are necessary, particularly as the imagery,
iconography and symbols are indelibly written into our way of visualising what we
deem as spiritual. But for the most part I will focus on the non religious meaning as

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