An Artist's Perspective

Welcome to the Friends of Prospect Lake gallery. This is our first in a series of online exhibits featuring local artists of all stripes, who take their inspiration from Prospect Lake and its beautiful Berkshire surrounds. We are hoping to make our online exhibits a frequent occurance so please contact us at info@prospectlake.org if you would like to participate.

 

Our first artist, Sarah Nicholson, lives and practices in North Egremont on the shores of Prospect Lake and has been so generous in sharing photos and thoughts on her artistic pursuits. To view, hover over picture to click through images. We hope you enjoy.

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PROFILE: Sarah Nicholson, Artist

I was fortunate to be raised exploring the ocean and its shores on the island of Antigua in the West Indies, a place where the natural world became my greatest inspiration. Today, my home in the Berkshires also sustains my appreciation of nature, nourishing my creative process as an artist. Over the years I have explored batik and fabric design, photography, pastels, and hand-crafted book-making. Connecting with mystery through beauty, while accessing joy, is what motivates me to create.

 

Currently, I am playing with more ephemeral art forms, such as painting with water, building mandala designs with found objects in nature, as well as making the Indian art called Kolam or Rangoli—‘drawing with rice flour’. From ancient times until today, women in certain areas of India use colored rice flour to make designs at the threshold of their homes or temples. Many designs are specific offerings to various gods, goddesses, and nature spirits. They not only literally feed the birds and insects, but they also bring smiles to visitors’ faces—all while trapping any ‘negative energy’ and preventing its entry into their homes. I find this art form intriguing because it is rooted in tradition and is also very temporary.

 

My daily practice is to greet the morning with gratitude and wonder through meditations (often outdoors), yoga/qigong, reciting poetry, and/or making offerings to feed “the holy in nature” (Martin Prechtel, spiritualist/author).  In these ways, I am linking my own physicality with the beauty of the natural world.

 

To honor water, I sometimes do my morning practice beside Prospect Lake. These photographs document my creative process there, I offer them here in hopes of inspiring a deeper and broader awareness of the importance of water in our lives.

 

Through sharing these images, I hope that others will find their own way to honor, celebrate and express gratitude for the healing and generous presence of nature in our lives.

 

“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

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