John Lewis Foundations – Motherhood of God – Life Drawing – Carter Heyward – Progressive Christianity – Richard Rohr – Cezanne
August 3, 2023
Painting, Painting Painting!
Art Journal Post August 2023 by Jenny Meehan aka jennyjimjams
Well, it is July (ooops! Late again! It’s now August!) and this is the time of the year when I do a lot of painting/ collage! I don’t have anything finished to show you right now but here are some images of what I have been doing. I am fortunate to have a garden, which I love, and in that beautiful space many of my paintings start to come to a life of a sort!
Abstract Painting in progress by Jenny Meehan aka jennyjimjams
Abstract Painting in progress by Jenny Meehan aka jennyjimjams
Abstract Painting in progress by Jenny Meehan aka jennyjimjams
These are all in progress, yet nearing their final stage and suggesting feelings and ideas very faithfully to me. It’s a great stage to be at…
Rather than stick edges down so they are always close to the surface I leave some with spaces… This development came from my work with mosaics and is a good example how varying media can be very productive. I find the shadow areas interesting in mosaic and having got the interest I can’t forget it!
Life Drawing Class at Hillcroft College Surbiton
Here’s a few examples of work I’ve been doing in a super life drawing. It’s been really good fun!
Life drawing Continous Line drawing by Jenny Meehan 4 minutes
I think this one merits a title as it asserted itself so naturally, so I reckon that “4CL Connection” is good as I have been thinking and reading a lot recently about having a stronger sense of connection, both within oneself and also with others.
Life Drawing with Two Mediums, seven minute pose. And what to call this one with its empty head? I think that “Mind in Body” may be right for this. I’ve been thinking about this aspect of Yoga and the way we can bring our awareness to our different parts, and as the pose looks quite reflective and rested, I think this title is apt.
These two below were short poses, can’t remember the time exactly but less than five minutes
Quick life drawing by Jenny Meehan
Quick life drawing by Jenny Meehan
I’m enjoying sharpening my eyes with observation, so I’ll be looking to continue life drawing in the Autumn. To have the human body as a motif in my work seems good for this time when I’m feeling so much more grounded and connected to my own. My long term focus on emotions… On locating them and expression of emotion gets even more interesting when linked and connected to the body so this seems a good direction to travel in.
John Lewis Partnership Foundations
Bit of a flip back in time now to an early work, “John Lewis Partnership Foundations 1987”. I like to look back now and again and this work was the first piece of art I sold! It was sold to John Lewis & Partners in 2007. I printed the digital image onto canvas which suited it well. It was a very encouraging moment to sell it and even more so in that it went to where I wanted it to go! Here’s my blurb on it, from that time:
A large inkjet print on block canvas was purchased by the company at the Kingston Contemporary Open Exhibition 2007.
John Lewis Partnership Foundations 1987 by Jenny Meehan Digital Art Print
“John Lewis Partnership Foundations 1987 by Jenny Meehan
Conceived, created, and printed May 2007
Digital print on canvas
This artwork was created from a photograph taken by me in 1987 as I walked over Kingston Bridge, and shows the foundations of the John Lewis building in Kingston- Upon-Thames. It celebrates the positive and inspiring vision of partnership which John Spedan Lewis brought into reality within his own work, in his own lifetime, and now beyond that. As I looked at the company website and read through some of his words and learnt about what he had done, I found a real pioneering spirit at work, and it inspired me to create this piece. The involvement of John Lewis with the arts in the borough is also very much something to celebrate, and for this reason I specifically created this piece for the Kingston Contemporary Open Exhibition in 2007. It was selected for the exhibition, and purchased by John Lewis Partnership for display in the Kingston Branch.
In the image you see two people at work – a distance apart, but still with common aim. In many organisations today, the individuals desire to work together, whatever their relative status, is what will eventually result in constructive changes and these of course do not only come from the top but happen at many levels; people with faith and vision will carry on working even if the end result is not in sight!
The image is quite deliberately printed onto canvas – photographs on canvas might be considered “not real art” but the reality is that for an increasingly large number of individuals and companies today this is the way they will experience the visual arts in their own setting and this is no bad thing – value and status are not the same thing!
If an image makes life just a tiny bit brighter, more interesting, and stimulates thought and emotion, creates space for memory or vision, then it is well worth the effort and is art in all its glory!
With all the new building going on in Kingston, I really liked the idea of bringing forward an image from the past and representing it in a modern way; digital photography has completely transformed photography as an art form…it has now so much more in common with painting. But, this change has not destroyed its history, which is why I have manipulated it in a way to accentuate bright “paint” like areas and yet at the same time accentuated the grain present in the original negative. The presence of the past form is still very much felt, and while it is easy to tend to resist new developments, it is possible, with careful consideration, to have a good balance which works as a whole”.
Wow, that was years ago… It was a super boost to my confidence at the time for sure!
Carter Heyward
Sometimes you find an author to read who is just a perfect fit for where you are at a particular time, and for me that author is Carter Heyward… Here’s another super quote from the introduction of her book Touching Our Strength:
“The search for liberation, profoundly personal and political, is an intrinsically relational adventure. We search together. It is our active solidarity with one another that generates our discovery of who we are together and hence of who each of us is by particular name and unique yearnings and special talents.
We are not photographs. The reality of our lives is three-dimensional: Whether we experience ourselves this way or not, we are inherently relational. This is the metaphysics of all that is created. From a philosophical perspective, this is our ontological (essential) state – our way of being, the way of being human, created, and creative. We are born in relation, we live in relation, we die in relation. There is, literally, no such human place as simply “inside myself.” Nor is any person, creed, ideology, “outside myself.”
I’m thinking about this quote in particular relation to a poem I wrote a while back… It seems to meet my poem in a fruitful place, for in my poem “God has helped” there is a process of change and liberation which still holds a strong sense of the need for a deeper awareness of relational reality… A sense that isolation of self needs expansion, through faith and an opening out which embraces a greater sense and experience of mutuality.
Here’s the link to my video poem “God Has Helped.” https://youtu.be/WIZ1MHpLSSQ
I continue to read Carter Heyward’s writings enthusiastically! Here’s some more to taste!
“I suspect nothing is more heartbreaking to God herself than the denial of our power to recognize, call forth, and celebrate right relation among ourselves.’ Locked within ourselves, holding secrets and denial, we embody not merely the fear of our relational pos- sibilities; we also embody the rejection of the sacred ground of our being, which is none other than our power to connect.”
Carter Heyward in Chapter 1 of Touching Our Strength – The Erotic as Power and the Love of God”
Her writing really melds very well with previous thinking and reading I’ve made of Martin Buber, so I’m over the moon with this book, to be sure, it’s reallly such a breath of fresh air!
Progressive Christianity
I tend to call myself a Progressive and Liberal Christian as I think it describes me better than any other label, though labels are never quite right, as even within them there are so many variations! I enjoy the life focus that being a Christian gives me, and see this is most essentially a matter of following the way of Christ, which is basically the way of Love. My faith and beliefs have grown and changed over the years… I am in a very different place to that I was in when I first committed myself to Christ aged 18! I don’t hold onto ideas and dogma in the way that I used to, and being “right” really doesn’t come into my faith anymore. I am more concerned with the mystery and mysteries of God, and embracing the love and spirit of God with the understanding that I only see a speck of an image far beyond my rational mind! So I am certainly more of a contemplative and mystic than I used to be! It is the amazing work of the Holy Spirit to reveal what is good and true in life, and to set anyone, (and I mean, anyone, regardless of the faith they profess or don’t profess), into the liberty of being able to be fully who they are created to be.
I am probably still quite traditional in many ways too, and though I set out to have a questioning faith and open attitude, I am always challenged by how stuck in my old ways I can be! I find the process of reading and researching very helpful in all areas of my life though, and one of my favourite writers is Richard Rohr.
Reading the various writings and thinking over the content of the above website has been so very helpful to me. I think I have needed to do a fair amount of what is often called “deconstructing” my religious beliefs. Thankfully I seem to have managed to evolve in a manner which means I still retain my essential element of being centred in on following Christ, which is a great help to me in my life and helps provide a framework for much of my thinking. At the same time I also firmly believe in openness and in expanding my thinking and also embracing ideas which I haven’t come across before. It is often more helpful in life to retain an attitude of openness towards what we don’t know rather than what we do, and also to remember that the Spirit of God really does work in mysterious ways. I have gained a huge amount in being open to the wisdom and ways of other faiths and religious traditions and what I learn from them feeds into my own path in a very enriching way.
Flower Images from West Dean Gardens
Here’s a little string of flowers…In black and white. Usually we enjoy flowers in colour but taking the colour away I can appreciate the tonal variations and structure without the immediate attraction of colour. Light itself is a subject matter in its own right…the objects it bounces off do a great job of making it interesting!
jenny meehan photography
jenny meehan photography
jenny meehan photography
jenny meehan photography
The Motherhood of God
I need a sense of the Motherhood of God at this time of my life far more than I have previously felt before. I think I have always needed it, but just accepted the metaphor of God as mainly male without recognising that by letting the male metaphor dominate my thinking, I was surpressing something I really need as a woman. Something of affirmation for who I am and how I am which is transformational.
Its not totally new to me. Way back in 2007 I had an opening of mind and thought on many aspects of how I conceived God to be. This process is part of the Christian way I believe, if it’s healthy. A readiness to have changes of heart and mind. Readiness to let go of structures of many kinds which don’t serve the purposes of the liberating Holy Spirit of God.
At that time, I realised God could very reasonably be conceived of as being gay. What I mean by this is that God’s love wasn’t just expressed in deep heterosexual emotional, spiritual and physical connections, but in all types of relations to others in Love. It felt radical and even a bit shocking to me at that time, though now not surprising at all. There’s a whole story behind it, which was a complete blessing to me, but I want to stay on track with exploring my Motherhood/Sisterhood/Feminine Divine focus.
First though…
Why is God so Male? (and is he he?)
Even the Trinity is traditionally framed as male. However, I do recall some commentary I read in the past on the Holy Spirit being “she” and therefore ascribing a feminine metaphorical nature on that person of the Trinity. Still, even so, the “Father” aspect seems the dominant metaphor. Intentional or not, the Father person of the Trinity seems to come across as being the one with the most authority and therefore importance, even if it’s not technically meant to be that way.
PS.. Basically… The “trinity” model of God is just that.. Its a model and the virtue of it to my mind is that it’s all about relationship. That God is relational and so undefined in a singular sense, but that the dynamic of Love is the life breath of “one” who is, yet is also not limited, to being one.. This is what I find helpful about the concept of Trinity and why I still use it in my own thinking. (There are loads of ideas about how we can think about God using this model. Ultimately God is beyond concepts.)
Back to the idea of a male God…
The maleness which dominates our conceptions of God may be a positive for many people, but for me, (and others) the majority of male impact on my life has been so destructive for so many years that a feminine metaphorical model of Trinity is more healing. It is also more effective in bringing a felt sense of the Love of God into my life. God is experienced more fully and deeply as feminine. There is more intimacy and connection. This is healing in the fullest sense. It doesn’t mean one has to reject the male conceptions… It does redress an imbalance though… Our world really needs a greater awareness of the feminine divine, I believe.
Few other thoughts…
I’m not a Catholic, so forgive me the simplicity on what follows; I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than I’m aware of…!
In the Catholic tradition, Mary in her many expressions, including the “mother of God” particularly, brings the feminine to new prominence, but with some less helpful aspects too… female authority needs realisation in practical forms, expressed in earthly and bodily ways, ie, female priests etc. It is sad, but true, that formal religious structures of many types are indeed, repressive.
“If we are to live with our feet on the ground, in touch with reality, we must help one another accept the fact that we who are Christian are heirs to a body-despising, woman-fearing, sexually repressive religious tradition. If we are continue as members of the Church we must challenge and transform it at the root. ” Carter Heyward
Within the Protestant tradition, which I am more familiar with, (evangelical and charismatic churches in the 80’s) some folk I came across viewed the Catholic conceptions of Mary as even being somewhat evil, and though in some respects and situations women were given more freedom to minister in certain ways, the bottom line was that males were superior in authority. I think nowadays that maybe the horror directed towards Mary was a rejection of the femine divine big time, and actually rooted in sexist misogynistic ideas! This is the general impression I am left with now, at least. There was also a big dislike of accepting the mysterious and unknowable nature of God. Things had to be very black and white.
I was brought up in the Baptist Church and the one I first worshipped in as a child was led by a woman, the Reverend Sister Edna Black. I’m still tremendously grateful to her as she was a truly wonderful example who I realise still inspires me in my identity both as a woman and a Christian. She was a strong and independent woman of faith who knew Christ and expressed the divine feminine in many ways. I have a lot to thank her for… She was a true source of strength for me in my childhood.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote of God’s tender, motherly love. searched for the Lord, “wanting to know, O my God, what You would do to the very little one who answered Your call, I continued my search and this is what I discovered: ‘As one whom a mother caresses, so will I comfort you; you shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you.’ Ah! never did words more tender and more melodious come to give joy to my soul.”
For those of you reading this blog mainly due to your interest in my visual artworking, my philosophical and theological reflections are an intrinsic part of my artworking. I find the relationships between my thoughts, feelings and spirituality very much inform any creative output and keeping track of developments and changes in my perspectives is a very useful tool for discerning future directions in artworking. These meandering streams flow into the same river which shapes so many aspects of what it is about life I love so much.
I am very grateful for my mind. I am very grateful for the mysterious and all surpassing work of the Holy Spirit in my life. I am very grateful for a deeper sense of connection with God I’ve developed over the many years of seeking to have an open heart to being changed and transformed in many respects.
Beautiful Sunshine
I’m very focused on making the most of any good paint drying weather we get. The image above shows some of the collage elements I’ve been playing with today. It’s a small but valuable part of my painting process as if this part is done in a mindful and prayerful way, I get many interesting ideas about themes I may like to explore in future paintings. With nothing to think about but the paint and how it and I am responding, you wouldn’t believe the variety of possibilities which open up materially either… It is the most orgasmic thing ever!
I had a little play with words too, as I needed to retreat into the shade of the house after a few hours…
In this studio without walls
I play in relations
It’s instinct
Singing with the birds
Breathing
in the air
I like it
Now I’m too hot
So into the house
May be a better place
To be me for a while
I won’t bother with punctuation
In this poem
The birds do that better
They don’t confine space
They don’t need the security
Of closing anything in
Maybe I don’t need it either?
Jenny Meehan 22nd June 2023
Last but not least… A random selection of my visual art:
Ten Thousand Years by Jenny Meehan
The Space Between Us painting by Jenny Meehan
abstract digital print by jenny meehan
leap of faith abstract art print by jenny meehan
rush hour digital print by jenny meehan
Ok
That’s Enough digital art print by jenny meehan
No problem/moving on art print by jenny meehan
Cezanne Painting
This is dated c 1867 – 70 and it’s pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper. The title “Woman Diving Into Water” was given to it by Félix Fénéon. I’ve picked it to share today as its a lesser known painting by Cezanne, and I particularly like his approach and use of the selected mediums. It’s not large, at just under 13cm square. It’s a reminder to me that things really don’t need to be big on size to he important and significant. As I’m swimming a lot in the sea, lakes and rivers the subject matter is particularly appealing too!
Woman Diving into Water by Paul Cezanne
It’s “Byee” from me til next time.
Here’s a continous line drawing of mine to finish this Journal entry off.
Jenny Meehan - Art Journal 