Visions of the New Earth
The new Alembic Gallery Show
Krisztina Lazar is Alembic’s curator-in-chief. She’s the one making sure that the Alembic is bedecked with beautiful, transporting, and (occasionally) unsettling visions. She’s also the teacher of Alligator Lizards in the Air, a visionary integration class where the integration tools are paintbrushes. We’re thrilled that she has another upcoming exhibition at the Alembic — here are her reflections on it.
This past weekend, many of us saw something we wouldn't have normally been able to see unless we were very far away. Something magical and remote visited us in our own temperate backyards: the Northern Lights. These celestial serpents ignite our imaginations but relatively very few people have seen them in person. The last few days have changed that dramatically. Was it a miracle? Maybe. It probably would have been considered such had we been alive at any other time in human history. But even today, it shows how sometimes the most unexpected things can and do happen. Sometimes when we think about how we would like the future to be, some of the things we wish for seem almost unimaginable, as absurd as wishing to see the Northern Lights from California. But I’m feeling a bit more optimistic now.
Visions of the New Earth is as much a physical prayer for the future as it is a collection of paintings. Like a hyper-sigil calling forth a variety of aspects of a matriarchal archetype, each painting conveys a heartfelt intention of what a new Earth could be like. Featuring the works of seventeen artists of the Visionary Muse Collective, a self-organizing group of women visionary artists from around the world, we are confronted by themes of motherhood, sacred sexuality, gathering in community, and the transmutation of shadow.
Sarah Vaccariello, Council of the Ancestors, 36" x 36", Oil on canvas
Formed organically in 2018, the Visionary Muse Collective sprang from a need for women artists to support fellow women artists in the visionary art genre. Starting with only a few women, the collective, of which I am grateful to be a member, began with an appropriately collective practice: each artist did a portrait of one of the other artists in the group. Over the next few years, the group extended invitations to new members and did a second round of portraits in 2022. For the most recent round, the Collective chose the theme of Visions of the New Earth to speak to a yearning that was boiling in so many of our hearts. The new exhibition at The Alembic will feature the painting each woman created in response to the theme, as well as the painting from the last round of member portraits, along with new members’ work.
Helena Schotman, Dar la Luz (Birthing the Light), 26" x 54", Acrylics on canvas
What is the Vision this exhibition is calling into being? What New Earth is crowning and about to be born from these images? As a curator, I see a grand narrative at work amongst all of the paintings I hang at the Alembic. The story that these paintings tell begins with an intense inner journey, a heroine’s journey, to confront the shadow. Here, encounters with the Dark Mother and Raging Father archetypes must be undertaken and synthesized, the excesses purged as in ceremony.
Domė Moon, Divine Empowerment, 16" x 20,"Acrylic on canvas
Once a relationship is established with the inner Selves, the outer world can be brought into wholeness. This recalls a variation of the Hermetic dictum: as above, so below, as within, so without. Visions of verdant landscapes and lush abundance symbolize the interconnected flourishing of humanity and the Earth. In an effort to stop seeing ourselves as separate from the world around us, mythical and anthropomorphic figures begin to emerge. It is clear that the effusive generativity that we feel in our bones cannot come to fruition if we don’t recognize that we are intrinsically interwoven into a global network and embedded into Trees, Plants, Air, Soil, Insects, Birds, Rivers, Oceans and everyone else that makes up this beautiful cacophony of Living.
Krisztina Lazar, Merdonna and Child, 24” x 36”, Oil & Casein on canvas
This is the Vision I see presented by the artworks in the show. But each piece has its own message for every viewer. As you visit the Alembic over the next few months, take the time to commune with the works, read the artists’ descriptions, and let yourself fall into the possibility that we can tune into the interdependent flourishing that is already happening all around us — and perhaps even bring that flourishing to the forefront of our experience. What we focus on is what comes into being, and Visions of the New Earth guides that focus into the continuum of generativity.
Please join us for the opening of Visions of the New Earth on May 18th from 6-8pm, with a special artist talk at 7pm. Register here. The show will be up at the Alembic until August 18th.
Caren Chroma, Earth, My Body, 24” x 24,” Mixed Media (Body Paint, Photography, Acrylic)
If you can’t make it to the evening event but are free during the day, Krisztina will be teaching her extraordinar creative integration class, Alligator Lizards, on the afternoon of May 18th from 1-3pm. For this special class, participants will focus on, interact with, and take inspiration from the artworks on the wall.
Transmutations is a biweekly publication from the Berkeley Alembic, a transformational center that offers classes, workshops, retreats, and warm cups of tea.
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