Can I hold my cherished moments sacred while laid bare?

June 26, 2020

It began as a discarded cardboard box and ended as a sacred treasure chest holding vivid moments in time. And this, in turn, became the jumping-off point for my new painting series.

We had gathered a cardboard box, two items symbolizing our big project concept, and our art materials. From this odd set of mysterious ingredients, magic happened! It truly did. I’m not sure how, but it did, and now it’s the turning point in the development of new painting series.

Working with a box was an assignment in the expressive arts course I’m taking. It quickly became a critical step in developing the vision for my new series. In this series I want to transfer the feeling of deep renewal and relief that I felt when regaining inner peace while walking through the woods amidst the chaos of the pandemic. (Read more about the development of this concept and the background of my big project and new painting series in my previous post.)

The box creation

In class, before starting our first set of explorations, I held the raw box in my hands. I felt it. I turned it. I studied it. I looked at it from all angles, when, suddenly, I felt a strong urge to cut the box into thin strips. I don’t know where the urge came from, but I followed it, as I saw tree trunks in my minds-eye, those I had walked passed in the woods every day.

Not knowing how I would use them, I methodically sliced up the free-floating insert inside my box. Quickly I became fascinated by the strips themselves, their shapes and their corrugated edges. So, I followed the flow and used them as both materials for the piece and tools for creating it.

During class I created a painting based on a color palette I was testing. I painted freely without much thought or plan, working slowly trying not to overpaint, and leaning into this feeling of renewal I was trying to convey.

After the painting dried, I used it to line my cardboard box, inside and out. I worked meticulously and carefully, thoughtfully determining which painted portions would work best on which box panels. I don’t really know how long it took me to finish. I just worked — I was in a zone.

Reflections on my box

Upon reflection, lining my box was a mindful, meditative, powerful moment for me. And filling it was also vivid. After finishing the box, I gently laid the cardboard strips inside as if this were a sacred act. Then I added a piece of lichen-covered bark and my prayer beads, the two items I’d collected to symbolize my project. Box complete and filled, it now holds and protects the whole of my series — both the symbolic tools I will use to create it and symbols of the meaning behind my work.

Interestingly, this act of gently lining and filling my box transformed it into a sacred vessel, a keeper of cherished moments and feelings, a blueprint of an emerging visual style, the seed from which my painting series will grow.

My final box is titled "Can I hold my cherished moments sacred while laid bare?" I’m excited to see how I carry this into my new paintings series and how it manifests on canvas.