It turns out that growing as an artist and growing as a person are the same thing. Art is spiritual practice and a very effective one. I learn to listen more deeply to the inner voice, letting creation happen by itself, with less interference from “me”. I sometimes use power tools, and have noticed that when I have a negative thought at the same moment I cut my hand in some way. So I have learned to keep my hands out of the way, and to keep my mind out of the way. It is this process of the quieting the mind that is both the means and the subject matter of my work. Perhaps we can call it the spiritual journey.

Bindu of Emptiness

For me, “that which looks” is much more interesting than what we are looking at. If I can make art that reminds us of what, or who, is looking, inspired and informed by the nature of our own beings, then I have done something useful, both for me and for whoever buys my work. In the end, the secret of art is that art looks at us, from the inside out. We are both the eye that sees, and the I that is seen.