December 10, 2010 paintings for the All Souls chapel
[ from a. addair who is listening to Zee Avi (Zee Avi) ]
“The passage into mystery always refreshes. If, when we work, we can look once a day upon the face of mystery, then our labor satisfies. We are lightened when our gifts rise from pools we cannot fathom. Then we know they are not solitary egotism and they are inexhaustible. Anything contained within a boundary must contain as well its own exhaustion.”
–Lewis Hyde
The piece is much less about declaring a vision for the chapel and much more a simple marking of breath.
The aim then is not for anyone to align with or even share my conception of the human experience, rather, it is an invitation to delight in the mystery of God and the loving openness our little family pours out to its members and the city.
It is an exhalation that hopes to give space. It is a record of a labor for authenticity, permeability, vulnerability, and an acknowledgement of interdependence. My hope is that it gives permission for others to struggle and delight in labors of their own.
In this way, these paintings are images from personal experience (I don’t feel qualified to offer more than this) that are for and about the collective.
“I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love”
–Walt Whitman
I am learning that the spirit swells even though, or maybe because, the body dissolves. I am learning to acknowledge my participation and live in harmony with the cycles of nature. I am learning that the boundaries dividing the biological, social, and spiritual are fluid. I am learning to give and to love freely because the giving of these things assures their plenty. I am learning to let go of ambition and the desire to control. I am learning to participate in momentum. I am learning to be a part of a community whose paradigm is one of gift exchange. I am learning to acknowledge a flow that is out of my hands and cannot be managed in the scheduled, quantitative system of our culture.
Tags: 4 market square, abundance, acrylic painting, all souls chapel, Ashley Addair, bathing suits, blue, bodies, city, commissioned work, culture, cycles, dissolve, dive, eddies, effuse, ego, environmentalism, exhaustion, family, gift economies, gift exchange, god, grass, green, growth, interdependence, knoxville tn, labor, lacy jags, lewis hyde, little girls, molecules, mystery, permeability, pink, red, refresh, scarcity, skin, spirituality, stripes, swimming, the gift, visual metaphors, vulnerability, walt whitman, water, Work, zee avi
no room for hipsters 
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rebekah
said
These are the images I was talking about. The artist statement that accompanies them is perfect. Thank you so much for being authentic, vulnerable and transparent. Your gift is much appreciated.
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ashleyaddair
said
thanks for saying so. i love you.