"The Spiritual Odyssey Group: Eye Level"

Art Exhibit at Lydia Garcia's
Galleria EliasInez
Oct. 25 - Nov 22, 2003

Veronica Piastuch
ARTIST STATEMENT

Live each day as it is your last. Be grateful for every moment you have in this dimension. When all else fails, make art.

The Spiritual Odyssey Group is my and Miriam Foronda's brain and heart child. We wanted to form an exhibit group of artists with similar spiritual sensibilities. Our dream was realized in 1999. The Spiritual Odyssey Group celebrates the creative process and reflects the artistic diversity of Creator.



We are all interconnected and that is the way life is. It is no longer six degrees of separation but one or two. The world has become smaller somehow. I choose to create instead of destroy. God is an artist and so am I. I have been loaned this gift of creativity until I sing my death chant. I choose to pass on this gift to the children, the future generations, who hopefully will also pass on this gift to others. I honor God's creations by painting them including those I only see within or those who have gone to the Spirit World. I open my heart and see what falls onto the canvas. I paint because that is my path and my paintings are visual prayers of gratitude. I see God in the face of all living beings. The title of this show is EYE LEVEL. For me, this means to bring that which lays within, above, and below, seen and unseen, the artist's internal landscape, to eye level where it can be seen. EYE LEVEL means to see what is important right in front of you; to bring things to the light of day; to bring the senses and emotions to eye level; and to look into a piece of art as if it were a mirror.

CONTACT
Veronica Piastuch 505-332-0373
Pat Berrett 505-881-0935
Sue Orchant 505-294-8021
Miriam Foronda 505-751-3186

Celebrate Tibet. Oil 2003. An oil painting honoring Tibet including contemporary imagery of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama (left image) who was kidnapped by the Chinese, with traditional imagery of the Medicine Buddha, the white and green Taras and Sanskrit mantras. The children on the right depict the hope and joy of Tibet for future generations. The wisdom eye moon holds Tibet's endangered snow leopards. The Dalai Lama sits in the lotus flower on the upper left.The mantra in the sky is the Vajra Guru mantra which reads OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM and is pronounced by the Tibetans, Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Hung. It is said that this twelve syllable mantra carries the entire blessing of the 12 types of teachings taught by the Buddha. (Further info in the book The Tibetan Art of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. The second mantra in the Panchen Lama's hands is the compassion mantra OM MANI PADME HUM (Om Mani Peme Hung). It embodies the compassion and blessing of all the buddhas and bodhisattvasMy husband and I have meditated with the Dalai Lama in NYC and we received the Boddhi vows, and the Tara and The Medicine Buddha transmissions. I constructed this painting depicting the assembly that is inside my mind and heart. Tara Mantras: Om Tare Tutare Ture Soha Call upon Tara when help is needed. She has her leg readied to jump up and come to your aid. Medicine Buddha Mantra: Tayata Om Bhekandze Bhekandze Mahabhekandze Bhekandze Randza Samungate Soha Vajra Guru Mantra: Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung The Compassion Mantra: Om Mani Peme Hung

Guardians of Turtle Island. Oil 2003. A small, simple oil depicting rocks that look like turtles that I found at Wupatki, Arizona and a Hopi Kachina Maiden. . The original intent was to bridge the Iroquois legend of Sky Woman who landed on turtle's back with the Hopi Kachinas in Arizona. These guardians are locked in a timeless embrace. This painting was created this summer while my father was dying of cancer and I unconsciously represented my mourning in the desert with sky and rocks. I only discovered this correlation after I finished the painting. The legend of Sky Woman falling to the earth with no place to land, reflected my own inner feelings of becoming an adult orphan. It is as if the earth beneath me had been pulled away, leaving me to embrace the unknown with faith, love and change. It was the love of family, friends and Creator that created a safe landing place for me.

Reunion With His Sweet Lord. Oil 2002. A painting of George Harrison and his Lord Krishna reunited in the afterlife with a traditional Hindu velvet embroidered backdrop created by Master Weaver DeAnna JacobsonGeorge Harrison's family issued a statement saying: "He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends. He often said, 'Everything else can wait but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another. He died with one thought in mind -- love one another."

Honoring Janis. Oil, Mixed Media 2000. This is a whimsical, glitzy piece that honors a woman in a man's world of rock'n'roll.

Yemaja. Oil 2001. The woman in this painting is Sherryl Marshall, an old friend from NYC. We went to high school together. We were reunited in 1985 while at Tramps, a former blues club in Manhattan. She is a singer with Buster Poindexter (David Johansen) and others. She also is childless but works as a vocal coach and tutor to film and tv child actors. We lead very similar lives. I depict her as the African goddess Yemaya, mother of the oceans and the moon. Yemaja is singing and listening and dreaming the world into creation.This is a giclee print made from the original painting. Bracelet was made to match the painting.

Isle of Prayers. Oil 2001. I was born in NYC and lived there for 38 years. I grew up in the Bronx and as a child and subsequent adult, Manhattan was my playground and workspace. I played in the museums and Central Park. I worked in the tall buildings. I lived in Manhattan for 14 years. The events of September 11 were incredibly shocking and became pervasively sad for me. My family and friends were there, some barely escaping the horror. A former employer, Marsh & McLennan, lost 300 people. In times of chaos, our mind seeks order. This painting came together in a week. I wanted to do a colorful, healing painting seeking beauty out of ugliness. I wanted to pray with my paint. For now, I am living moment to moment; every breath rebuilding our future. We can rebuild our world and it must begin with ourselves. I am reminded that everyday we must be prepared to face our own death. It is through our imminent death that we can learn to live and love more fully.Our Lady of Guadalupe hears all the prayers of Christians and non-Christians alike. She is most merciful. She cries for the children; the thousands of children left without fathers or mothers or both. She transcends economic class and race. She cries for white collar and blue collar workers as well as the undocumented aliens. Who will take care of their children? She cries with the petitioners of prayer. She is our great mother, compassionate, supportive and ever loving. I see Manhattan as an island of prayers. I chose to paint the collective prayers by using a candle skyline instead of an architectural skyline. In the end, it is the people who worked in the buildings who are more important than the buildings themselves.The spirit of the people in the towers is still there thus the transparent glaze. For some, the workplace became their burial ground. The colors of the chakra system ride the towers to the top. This rainbow also represents all of the religions of the people who worked in the towers. This idea developed before I saw the NY Times rendition of the towers of light. This is what Jung calls "synchronicity." The three butterflies represent the soul's journey and the three cities that were hit by the planes. The butterfly on the flower is from a photo sent to me by friends Kevin Heath and Geri Clark in Staten Island, taken the day after the tragedy. Their garden was filled with butterflies. Souls ascending. The rose is God's perfect undying love for us. The hand of Lady Liberty reminds us of what this country is about: freedom and liberty. It is lit with the other candles. I designated specific candles for the rescue workers and "carved" it into the wax and anointed them in my mind. On one candle I anointed the world's religions. The lily symbolizes resurrection, flowers always reminding us of the cycle of birth and death.I choose not to hate for that is the way of the enemy. I choose to love for that is the way of God. My heart and prayers are with everyone affected by this tragedy…especially our children.

Roni's Bracelets of Earthly Delights My jewelry is created with the healing stones of the earth. I took a series of classes in 1987 on the healing properties of gemstones. I started a huge giveaway of bracelets last year while my father was battling cancer. It provided comfort for me. Now that dad is gone into the afterlife, I am sharing my bracelets with the public. These bracelets are hand crafted with love and healing intention. It takes about 5-6 hours to create each bracelet. It is like painting with pure color! The colors of our chakra system relate to the stone colors. Crown is yellow, white, gold, Third eye, purple Throat Blue, Heart Pink and Green, Solar Plexus Yellow, Navel Red and Orange, Base Red and Black. Blues also carry the Mother Mary essence.