“I am only too relieved to see my work going to hang on other walls – with its departure I shed my responsibility.”

–Evelyn Williams

So often we dwell on the calamities of our world without imagining a better way forward. The purpose of this Tikkun art gallery is to seek out artwork that presents a hopeful and positive vision of this life while still conveying a sense of intellect and awareness of the ways our world and our nature cause suffering and grief. We are not trying to be quaint. We believe that there is a real possibility the world can be, and is being, transformed for the better, every day, by art.

It is lovely that this, our last post of 2009, examines the work of Evelyn Williams. Evelyn fits in particularly well with our mission statement at Tikkun.

Her painting “I Went to the Garden of Love” (below) speaks to the depth of human tenderness, transcending irrelevant, barbaric notions of gender and sexuality bias and presenting instead an alternative vision of compassion, humility and true love.

(To see more of Evelyn William’s work, visit the Tikkun Art Gallery.)

Says Evelyn,

I don’t believe there are any boundaries to love. This painting was inspired by William Blake. The figures are not confused by the restrictions normally occurring between men and women, but only through a feeling of fondest love where nothing is asked and nothing is expected.

Evelyn’s piece “The Prophecy” (below) shows a vision of humans locked in a different kind of embrace, huddling for protection from the specter of fear and manipulation.

(To see more of Evelyn William’s work, visit the Tikkun Art Gallery.)

Says Evelyn,

The whole idea of The Prophecy was of this terrible weight that man had assembled above his head. I was 15 when the first bombs were dropped – I and my generation were suddenly confronted with the horror of it. The jagged cloud above represented the threat – it hovers there still – a threat to mankind.

The Prophecy awakens in me acknowledgment of the power of the collective conscious. It reminds me that what we think about, we bring about. Something about the image helps me confront my own susceptibility to fear. Despite the ominous vision, the feeling I am left with after contemplating this piece is that I have been lifted up.

Evelyn’s sculpture “The Prisoner” (below) conveys a sense of isolation to me and a deep level of sadness. The figure in the piece seems emotionally crushed. I feel sensitive to his plight even though I know nothing of his supposed crime.

Says Evelyn,

The point of the sculpture is that he hasn’t committed a particular crime, but is imprisoned through the circumstances of the life in which he finds himself.

I recognize myself in that figure, behind prison bars of my own creation, and I wonder if there is more empathy, compassion or leniency we all might be able to give ourselves and each other.

Evelyn Williams once asked,

Is there a disease that manifests a person taking upon themselves the suffering of the world? What is its name? I believe I have the disease. In my case it is at the very centre of my work.

Moving forward into 2010 with this Tikkun art gallery, I pledge to keep fondly in my heart the beautiful imagery of Evelyn Williams and remember how closely connected are love and despair. Hope is only a silly word unless we admit to ourselves and each other how desperate the situation truly is, and how much work there truly is to be done.

(To see more of Evelyn William’s work, visit her work on the Tikkun Art Gallery or visit Evelyn’s website here.)