The Mystery of Vision

If you seek them out, and help them along, there are places almost everywhere we might call paradise… If people were openly honest (avoiding all deception) and sincerely tried to do the right and ethical things, we could create a better society almost by magic.

A quote from Joseph Campbell, "And I consider the artist, the one who has to reintroduce us to the promised land in our own world here and now...It is his vision, I think, that brings to us the vision of the knowledge of the spiritual radiance that shines through the world to us all- which many of us do not see...The real message of art is that of the glory of what we have with us here and now.  Not that nature has to be changed, but that nature and the world are already radient- of the divine spirit." - from a recorded interview in the Pacifica Radio archive

A sense of connection to the land-magic and cultures of central Mexico, and the extended southwest colors my “New World” identity.

An endearment for animals has led me toward the care of several cats and 2 herds of semi-wild horses in the hills above my rented cottage-home.

Landscapes which leave especially deep impressions, seem to create an interior existence for me, a dream state reality. I have an intuitive faith in their hidden meanings…like promised lands, alive with protective ancestor and animal spirit guides.

Despite brilliant technological ingenuity, modern society mostly offers many distractions. Human consciousness is generally in a dispirited state. The low aesthetic profile in modern life and the banal commercialism of public spaces provide indication that art and social progress work as partners. Leonardo personifies a further clue - a “divine creator” in the “Christian era” giving birth in turn to the scientific age, starting with observations in anatomy and perspective, the telescope, microscope, camera obscura. Creative clear vision - the modern age longs for art (empathy) to harmonize technology.

Biographical outline early: Childhood in Chicago/enchanted by mountain range vistas in Tucson and Denver-which became mental icons and beacons for me/Began to paint in earnest around age 16/$500 1st prize in first attempt at a juried art exhibit (1972-age 17) First few ascensions (of dozens later) into high country of Sierra Nevada during adolescence/Engaged in study of art history through college and beyond/immersed in music late blooming enthusiasm for modernistic artists, especially late Picasso, mid-Bacon, late Guston, O’keefe, Tamayo, and Richard Diebenkorn (who expressed facination for Herk’s drawings)