Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth

GALLERY II

As I awakened, I realized I no longer lived
under the stars, but among them.

It isn't uncommon for art making to be looked on as a spiritual practice. And while the parameters are wide for exactly what that means, there’s really no arguing that, in the course of making art, an artist can hardly help but at some point find themselves looking both deeply inward and distantly outward.

"The hand surprises us, creates and solves problems on its own," Stephan Nachmanovitch wrote in his book, Free Play. "Often enigmas that baffle our brains are dealt with easily, unconsciously, by the hand."

I experience that surprise often. It's quite the encounter to watch my own hand place a mark—spontaneously, without thought, and with unanticipated results. Then for me to somehow know enough to question, "Where did that come from?"

Little wonder that I love the quote from Robert Henri (The Art Spirit)—"A great painter will know a great deal about how he did it, but still he will say, 'How did I do it?'"

And so, the spiritual journey is launched. An odyssey filled with late-night conversations between artist and canvas. Ever-growing tolerance of ambiguity, messiness. A deepening gaze. A broadening embrace of the mysterious that surrounds us, and that which lies within.

Simply put, welcome to Art Making 202.

--Don Haggerty

Reunion with Myself
Oil on canvas
48" x 48"

Whole Silence
Oil on canvas
48" x 48"

Spiritual Journey
Oil on canvas
48" x 36"

                  Window Into the Sky

                        “Where are you going?”
                        I thought to the goose
                        Making its way,
                        Neck outstretched,
                        Wings driving,
                        Onward,
                        Across the sky.

                        “Where are you going?”
                        I imagined its thoughts
                        Coming back to me—
                        Making my way,
                        Seated on a bus,
                        Neck outstretched,
                        Peering through a window
                        Into the sky.

                                    -- Don Haggerty

First Flights
Oil on canvas
48" x 48"

Dance and the Path Will Appear
Oil on canvas
48" x 36"

To Touch at Once Both Earth and Sky
Oil on canvas
48" x 36"

Rise, Rise, Rise, Soar
Oil on canvas
36" x 48"

      When Something Takes Flight

            What is it that soars—
            When something inside,
            Untied, takes flight,
            When I’m raised
            Aloft, lifted out of,
            Beyond, above,
            When I look down,
            See my feet,
            And know what they’re touching
            Isn’t the earth?

                        -- Don Haggerty

Be Still
Oil on canvas
48" x 36"

                  Silent, Like Seated

                        I know silent.
                        Silent, like seated
                        On a three-legged stool,
                        Planted, like a rock,
                        On a mountain
                        The size of the earth,
                        Immovable,
                        And wrapped, around,
                        Above and below
                        By skies, so clear,
                        Nothing, nowhere,
                        Inside or out,
                        Can out-shout the silence
                        Being pressed so gently
                        Down, deep down,
                        So solidly down
                        On me here, now--
                        So silent, like seated
                        On a three-legged stool,
                        Planted, like a rock,
                        On a mountain
                        The size of the earth.

                                    -- Don Haggerty

The Singularity of Now
Oil on canvas
36" x 48"

Reunion with Myself II
Oil on canvas
48" x 48"

Reunion with Myself II (detail)
Oil on canvas
48" x 48"

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Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth GALLERY II

Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth

GALLERY II