Epiphany
We have arrived at the seaside town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk for Jane’s latest art exhibition and today was set-up day. It was an early start, as we packed the van with everything that we think we might need for a week away, running a gallery, creating an attractive space for everyone and anyone that we hope will pass by and be drawn inside. It’s our 8th visit here and this time we decided to bring my wonderful, harlequin-coloured armchair, in order to create a more homely space amongst the art.
Everything is now set up. Pictures on walls and presentation boards, price tickets on, lighting arranged and packaging cleared away. It is now early evening and I sit contentedly in that familiar arm chair and as I sit at the end of the gallery, celebratory glass of prosecco in hand, and take it all in, I experience an overwhelming feeling. Before me lies 38 pieces of vibrant art. I allow my eyes to amble from piece to piece, letting them speak to me. They are full of life. And then it strikes me. Standing before me also is the artist, Jane Beaumont. Every unique piece of art I am looking at came out from within this one woman! All 38 pieces. And I know there is much more at home that she decided not to bring this time. All of that art, as well, came from within her. And all the literally scores of other pieces of art she has created and sold over the years. It is a birth. Jane has given birth to all this unique, life- affirming, life giving, inspiring creativity.
I just sit there taking it in. I try to express all this to Jane, but I feel the inadequacy of my words for what I am experiencing. It is an epiphany. If Jane hadn’t had the courage to excavate her intuitions, to start, to scrap, to start again, to follow the breadcrumbs of an idea or a feeling, then none of this work would exist. For the past three years she has called her shows, The Hope Exhibition, because that is the most often quoted feedback her work gets. This time it is called Feelings Made Visible, because that is what creativity does. It takes what lies within us and manifests in infinite ways – through knitting, painting, poetry, music, compassion, empathy, writing, speaking, teaching…….endless possible manifestations from….from what? From the limitless possibility that lies within each human being.
When I look at Jane, standing in front of me, I see a wonderful, attractive, kind person…and she is all of this and more. But all of this art was inside of her. Buried away. Waiting to be discovered. It has always been there. And the more she discovers, the more she discovers and then the more she creates…and it doesn’t dry up.[1]
My epiphany in that moment left me reeling as to what is inside of any of us that isn’t being brought out into the world? What is there in you or me that isn’t being brought out into the world?
So often I hear people say, of creativity, ‘oh, I couldn’t do that. I’m not gifted as a … ‘ (you fill in the gap). But a creative uniqueness lies within each of us. And it is within us all. We all see and hear and feel the whispers of our potential through desires, intuitions, stirrings, disappointments and feedback. However, most times we often ignore them, or shame them, or don’t want to put in the courageous hard work to start a conversation with them.
Last week I played Carole Kings You’ve Got A Friend on the piano. Six months ago, I wasn’t even playing the piano. I didn’t know what was there, I only knew that I loved piano music and would love to be able to play some.
All that art was and still is in Jane, so what would have happened in her, to her, if she had not listened to her soul, her desires, her intuitions and not started the struggle to excavate what was within her?
As I drifted off to sleep last night, I was reminded of those salutary words from the Gospel of St Thomas.
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
That woke me up!
[1] As a writer I fully recognise that there are periods where there does seem like a block or an empty well, but these are part of the seasons of endless creativity for those who bear with the discomfort and ‘not knowing’ of such times.