Anne Ward
The Garden PortalLos Angeles | August 17 - September 4 2019
Press: Artlacuna
For months Anne kept randomly seeing a woman she felt certain was a medium.
On the 7th occasion at a local grocery store, Anne plucked up the courage to ask her if she was indeed a medium…and as it turns outs, she was! So Anne asked if she had a message for her. After a reading, the medium told Anne (who had already begun painting and working in the garden) that she was connected in spirit to a mystical gardener who communicates with plant and flower spirits/devas. She created books with complex and detailed instructions. Anne bought these books and set about creating the garden based on many of the principles presented in the books.
A flower/deva dialogue ensued, a garden grew and all of the the paintings in this exhibition emerged…
To see the works in person and find out more including the medicinal benefits of the flowers in the garden.
Please join us on weds for a walk through, Q&A and meditation 28th August 6-7.30pm FREE!
Flowers Speak to her. For over 25 years Anne Ward has been painting in the great tradition of plein air, inspired by artists like Fairfield Porter and Sorolla. Her focus has intensified for this late summer exhibition "The Garden Portal", when she decided she would grow her own flowers expressly to make paintings. She frequently paints in her garden and has grown plants and herbs as food for many years. During the process of sowing seeds and growing flowers to paint, Ward has been learning about flower remedies, medicinal properties of plants and how to work with nature. As her explorations developed she realized that flowers are not only beautiful, but medicine. This garden portal has been the artist's potent medicine to help Anne reclaim her focus and attention and hear/see/feel and communicate the secret messages of flowers.
"To really stop and observe a flower and smell and see it is a way to harness attention and align to the empowered present moment. For me, connecting to the garden allows me to react less and listen more. It's a way to get quiet and still. It's a way to have reverence for the sacredness of nature that we often take for granted. The more I am in the garden the more I feel I am in touch with true awe and wonder. Painting in a garden has become a devotional practice for me. Connecting to nature and restoring one’s connection to it is a powerful portal. My great hope is that each of these paintings will function as their own portal infused with the resonance of the joy and wonder I find in the yard".
Exhibiting these works at the end of this summers blooms, will reveal the full arc of their growth, with plants grown and painted at specific times and dates. The exhibition will be accompanied with a few trips to the artist's westside garden, with some instruction and information of her discoveries for all who are curious. These images will become the basis of a digital book about a year of observations in the garden.
On the 7th occasion at a local grocery store, Anne plucked up the courage to ask her if she was indeed a medium…and as it turns outs, she was! So Anne asked if she had a message for her. After a reading, the medium told Anne (who had already begun painting and working in the garden) that she was connected in spirit to a mystical gardener who communicates with plant and flower spirits/devas. She created books with complex and detailed instructions. Anne bought these books and set about creating the garden based on many of the principles presented in the books.
A flower/deva dialogue ensued, a garden grew and all of the the paintings in this exhibition emerged…
To see the works in person and find out more including the medicinal benefits of the flowers in the garden.
Please join us on weds for a walk through, Q&A and meditation 28th August 6-7.30pm FREE!
Flowers Speak to her. For over 25 years Anne Ward has been painting in the great tradition of plein air, inspired by artists like Fairfield Porter and Sorolla. Her focus has intensified for this late summer exhibition "The Garden Portal", when she decided she would grow her own flowers expressly to make paintings. She frequently paints in her garden and has grown plants and herbs as food for many years. During the process of sowing seeds and growing flowers to paint, Ward has been learning about flower remedies, medicinal properties of plants and how to work with nature. As her explorations developed she realized that flowers are not only beautiful, but medicine. This garden portal has been the artist's potent medicine to help Anne reclaim her focus and attention and hear/see/feel and communicate the secret messages of flowers.
"To really stop and observe a flower and smell and see it is a way to harness attention and align to the empowered present moment. For me, connecting to the garden allows me to react less and listen more. It's a way to get quiet and still. It's a way to have reverence for the sacredness of nature that we often take for granted. The more I am in the garden the more I feel I am in touch with true awe and wonder. Painting in a garden has become a devotional practice for me. Connecting to nature and restoring one’s connection to it is a powerful portal. My great hope is that each of these paintings will function as their own portal infused with the resonance of the joy and wonder I find in the yard".
Exhibiting these works at the end of this summers blooms, will reveal the full arc of their growth, with plants grown and painted at specific times and dates. The exhibition will be accompanied with a few trips to the artist's westside garden, with some instruction and information of her discoveries for all who are curious. These images will become the basis of a digital book about a year of observations in the garden.
