The Gates of Awakening: Provide and Nurture

An Exhibition by Gregory J. Rose
Curated By Dr. Megan Arney Johnson
at Concordia Gallery & Williams Teaching Gallery St. Paul, MN

The premise of my new work is influenced by the writing of Jack Kornfield. After the Ecstasy, the Laundry- How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path.

The Gates of Awakening, for me, have been rooted in my creative process and accepting that this is in fact the way I surrender to the moving energy of life. How I see myself not prescribing to the status quo of my profession(s). But rather an acknowledgement of my place as a healer, teacher, realizer as I navigate the tides of life and experience.  Creating art and its process – as it is presented to the world is my vision quest, rite of passage, my purification- my prayer(s).

In this world of analog and digital platforms, I am interested in how shedding the layers of physical and character -armor. Opens one up to the possibilities found in vulnerable opportunities- what could be considered a form or root of freedom? I am focused on the energies within me and those energies outside of me –those I have no control over. How we Provide and how we nurture. Providing brings out the armor, the protector, the warrior, yet these cease to exist without understanding how to nurture- one’s self, the youth, elders, and the larger communities we live, navigate and experience. This is a tangible way to share what may be for lack of better wording my “Divine Masculine” and “Divine Feminine”. The duality and complexity of in what makes my energy so unique.