48”x48” acrylic on canvas, 2025
 
Immersing in the study of yoga and meditation nearly two decades ago, the idea of “taking refuge” landed in my heart with great resonance. An enlightened guide, irrefutable sacred teachings, and a community of like-minded others have been welcome refuges through my spiritual journey. Safety and shelter have become increasingly uncertain in recent years, and creating the conditions for security and sanctuary are essential to settle our systems. Refuge explores this process, full of variation rather than simplicity, inquiring where and who defines this sense of shelter. There is a great deal of imagery from my yoga trainings here - my primary teacher’s sand-timer, a circular labyrinth, linear meanderings without beginning or end, and subtle paths moving us towards the mystical… There are elements of air, fire, water, earth. Abstracted references to day and night, sun and stars.. Beauty and peace are available at each end of these polarities, and within the variations of space between them. This piece celebrates the aspiration to lead with love, embracing fullness while remembering emptiness.