Brushing up the spirit
Artist Mayisha Morrow explores the sacred with a paint brush

Artist Mayisha Morrow stands in her Animas Valley studio recently. Morrowhas spent much of her life putting the sacred on canvas. Her three-pice series, “St. Pasqual,” “Madonna + Baby,” and “St. Francis of Assisi,” won third-place at last month’s “Icon: Visual Expressions of teh Sacred” exhibit at St. Mark’s Episcopal. /Photo by David Halterman

by Tim Birchard

Durango recently celebrated art and spirituality with St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s second annual Sacred Arts Festival. But for one local artist, the connection between paint and spirit goes well beyond the recent event. Painter Mayisha Morrow has spent much of her life putting the sacred down on canvas.

The Sacred Arts Festival included a three-day celebration and a two-week exhibition of artistic expressions of the sacred. “ICON: Visual Expressions of the Sacred” ran from Sept. 14-30 and featured some 50 artists from across the country, showcasing everything from sacred jazz piano to quilts; iambic pentameter to acrylic.

Of particular interest was an award-winning three-piece series by Morrow. The pieces, “St. Pasqual,” “Madonna + Baby,” and “St. Francis of Assisi,” all acrylic panel with mosaic frame, emphasize the joyful and, according to Morrow, offer a contrast to more somber historic sacred imagery.

“As a child I was always very visually stimulated,” says Morrow, who grew up on the French Canadian border, near Maine. “I would look at pictures and create these very elaborate stories about what was going on.”

Morrow said sometimes the stories were horrific, a reflection of the solemn images. However, the pieces she submitted for the Sacred Arts Festival were actually created for children as well as adults. “I believe that some iconic images should be gentle,” she said.

While she focuses on the gentle and the joyful, by no means does Morrow ignore the natural presence of pain and sadness in life. “There’s actually a Part Four to this series, the ‘grief’ piece, which I’m working on now,” says Morrow. “I love expressions of joy, but I believe that true feelings of grief can’t be compromised. This fourth piece will complete the series.”

Each piece in Morrow’s series, characterized by intricate detail, took about three months to complete. The results prompted more than one viewer at the festival to wonder aloud if she’d used actual bird feathers in her work. “Someone asked me if I’d used hummingbird feathers,” she says. “I assured them that the only things I’d used were paintbrushes of all sizes, though I did use mixed-media for the frames. I actually took some red dirt from the Waterfall Trail and used it to make the mosaic outline of each piece. Now there’s red dirt all over my house.”

According to Morrow, many of the things in the world that touch her heart come to life in her paintings. “Before working on the ‘St. Francis’ piece, I was walking my friend’s dog on the trails, and we ran into a skunk,” she says. “So the skunk became one of the characters in the painting.”

Mayisha Morrow’s “St. Francis of Assisi,” an acylic panel, was meant to emphasize the joyful and offer a contrast to more somber historic sacred imagery./Photo by David Halterman

Morrow sees this incorporation of the environment into her work as a reflection of her personal love for animals and nature.

“I’ve always been very close to animals,” she says. “It’s important for me to support the animals. You can see in the St. Francis piece how he loved them and saw them as equals. He saw that they’re not devoid of souls; they’re his buddies.”

While the figures in her paintings look deceptively realistic, she notes that she avoids using models, instead choosing to draw from memory.

“Many young people these days don’t learn in depth about drawing,” says Morrow. “It’s too easy to use a computer and just download images. When I want to draw an animal, I’ll observe the animal, and then create my own rendition from memory. There’s an aspect of originality that, to me, is very important. It’s about creating expressions of our own being.”

Morrow’s introduction to drawing came at an early age and was partially the product of childhood illness.

“My mother was a painter, so I started very young,” she said. “Our family used to entertain ourselves in the evenings by drawing and painting. And as a child, I spent five years in the hospital due to kidney failure. I was bed-ridden and all I could do was draw. So art has always been an important part of my life.”

While she loves being an artist, Morrow admits that the process is not always conventional or comfortable. “When I’m painting, I always lose track of time,” she said. “If I start painting in the morning, I’ll still be in my pajamas at four in the afternoon. I often forget to eat; when I’m painting, all physical needs come second.”

Though Morrow took a break from painting in her 20s and 30s, choosing instead to express her creativity through jewelry-making and building marionettes, in the end she realized that she could not escape her need to paint.

“I used to be afraid to try to make a living by painting,” she noted. “I had a lot of doubts: ‘What if I can’t make ends meet?’ ‘What if I starve?’ Finally, I had to face the fact that I’m not complete unless I paint. No matter how poor I might be, I must paint. I have to have faith that it will work out. It’s a love. I can just imagine being on my deathbed, thinking, ‘Why didn’t I paint?’”

For Morrow, painting is more than outward expression; it’s one way of getting in touch with the infinite within ourselves. “It’s not the material world that brings joy in life,” she said, “it’s how each of us chooses to commune.” •

For more information about Mayisha Morrow’s art or to view her work, contact the artist at 970-247-8305, ormayishamorrow@hotmail.com.

 

 

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