Metamorphosis@ Stonehenge Wisdom Room
Wednesday 01 October @ 13:34:49 |
 by Mary Ann Vincenta
On Hennepin Avenue stands Stonehenge, a greenhouse for the cultivation of positive energy.
 "Illusion of Love" by Rhea Colmar
It’s a place where the owner poured healing oil incense into the paint and spread healing words like “love, abundance, peace” on the walls before applying the final coat; a place where the therapeutic massage room and the tarot card reading room have been decongested by the wand of feng shui; and it’s the place for crystals, oils and meditative trance dancing.
Upstairs at the Saturday night opening, lovely, homey surroundings, with children everywhere, and a cornucopia of music, spoken word, wine, homemade potluck appetizers and desserts curl around the art works.
In Metamorphosis: A Spiritual Journey of Change, ten artists detail their journeys of inner transformation. They work from the premise that change is growth, is often magical or mystical, and is never degenerative.
Curator Debra Jean builds theme shows; she finds artists who already have works, or are inspired to create works, on the projected theme. None of the work is juried. She says all the artists in this show speak of a spiritual energy present during the creation of their pieces.
Three artists’ work hang in an intimate room to the back of the gallery.
Carmen Metty’s acrylics on masonite and canvas are dark, like the undergrowth in the forest, with mysterious bursts of color.
Russ Stephens captures moments in time—a quick movement, a sudden, scarcely perceptible breath—transforming them into splintered veiled forms that spill from memory. Debra Jean says his work calls to mind that of Francis Bacon, the 20th century English painter.
In three passionate photographs by Bonnie C. Mitsch, an aged woman looks to an aged tree for wisdom. While open to accidents, Mitsch works in a deliberate, controlled way, choosing the model, the setting, the tone, before clicking the shutter. Her haunting blend of hues intentionally includes the frame.
Out in the large room, Rhea Colmar meditates on love in a group of acrylics. The intense movement in each brush stroke dramatizes the anguish of human longing and loneliness alongside the lilting lightness of surrender to the divine.
Ann Marie Pike’s very warm, small mixed media picture is understandably marked NFS: it depicts friends surrounding the artist and her deathly ill child, and is a reminder to her of the healing that is available through love.
Debra Jean allows her camera to plunge her into the realm of the collective unconscious and, by that path, into the depths of self-knowledge. The resulting artifacts are stunning. Four of her small photos, in which she is the subject, are on display. They represent the multifaceted strands of the person she continues to discover, as well as an ever-growing range of techniques, many based on fortuitous accidents. In her photography, she has found the safety for her heart, mind and body to freely experiment and to become a conduit for wisdom.
Metamorphosis: A Spiritual Journey continues through Nov. 8. Stonehenge, 2520 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls. Gallery Hours: Tue.–Fri. 1–5 p.m. 612-827-5352.
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