An Overnight Excursion to the Masonboro Island Reserve and the Spiritual Downloads, 4/13-14,2025

Earlier this year, in mid-April, seven of us gathered for an overnight camping excursion to the Masonboro Island Reserve to celebrate a birthday. 

For me, it was so much more than that; it was an opportunity for an unplanned spiritual awakening. that was perhaps triggered by a most significant moonrise that, to my recollection, none of us had ever experienced. What a powerful presence. And there was a falling star, or was it a shooting star?… a fairly bright object arced over the water and popped..it sounded like a light bulb when it goes out! POP! I’ve seen shooting stars, but they were often so far up in the sky zipping about, but this was close; only one other person in the group saw it, so I feel pretty special to have that memory. I feel like we were surrounded by magic that night. Honestly, though, I believe that I felt this way because I didn’t expect any of it. I allowed myself to be present, and for that, these magical moments revealed themselves.

I returned the next day with two distinct groups of inspiration that would stew in my mind’s eye for the next couple of month’s before coming to life. 

The first group was born of fire. While a few members of the group hung out in their tents, the rest of us sat by the campfire. I was fixated by the embers. As the wood burned, it transformed before me like a time-lapse of relics changing over time. At one point, it looked like three sets of letters quickly appeared in the grain of the wood - one set after the other. It took me second to replay the vision.

At first I could have sworn I saw, EF, then FR , lastly, TC… it took a minute for that to register, but when it did I made a note of it on my phone and recognized it as a grammagram for “Effort to See”. I was gob-smacked, and turned to one of the other guests to tell him about it. He was polite and humored me and my fixation with the embers… for the rest of the night. 

The next morning, I made my way to the beach and just walked, collecting shells that resembled fragments of carved tablets, small sculptures, and prehistoric figurines. I couldn’t bring back all of them, so I edited my findings and separated them into seven groups..

GROUP 1: 

About a week after returning, I received guidelines for submitting work for an upcoming exhibition that I had shown interest in participating, Words of Inspiration to support the Cape Fear Literacy Council, a local nonprofit “dedicated to promoting literacy in out community.” I knew this EF FR TC was perfect, but I didn’t quite know how to go about it. Poetry, literature, or verse had to be incorporated into the art - either directly worked into the piece, or inspired by. If inspired by, the text had to be printed out and accompany the art. Up to four works could be submitted. I would use strips of archival paper mounted to canvas from a paper archiving process called linen backing, that I’d been collecting for years and weaving into  different size panels to paint on - some panels measuring over 6ft for a single painting, and also used as part of an installation in Brooklyn more than a decade ago.

So about this grammagram: EF FR TC - EFFORT TO SEE- the key word being Effort, which when really made, determines the difference between Looking and Seeing. What I did that evening on the island was, see, allowed myself to be totally present and became receptive - seeing without any expectation, only in pure wonder. I internalized what the island had to offer, and then transmuted it as art.  

Since the idea was conceived in fire, then it was clear that this would be my first submission,  simply titled: “FIRE - EMBERS” , an abstract painting of reds, dark brown, gold, and fluorescent orange and pink, with white accents. The six characters were mixed into the embers and ash. The text that would accompany the painting was a condensed description of the night by the fire.  

 

 

The concept of using the remaining elements for the three other submissions was a natural decision - “Air and Ether” shared a canvas.  This image clearly portrays the characters in stylized form set against a grey background, and enhanced with light blue and white repetitive outlines - the colors often associated with these two elements. The text that I found to complement this piece: “The only thing worse then being blind is having sight but no vision.” - Helen Keller

Next, was a more ambitious and energetic composition for water titled, “Dash and Dart’. Their various color combinations are an obvious attraction for me, the painting shows a school of loosely painted Koi cutting through this element and the characters mixed into the swirls of the current. I chose a line from one of my favorite poets, “Fish don’t hold the sacred liquid in cups! They swim the huge fluid freedom.” - Rumi, The Essential Rumi

                                                                                              The final piece in this collection was earth. I remembered a photo that I took years ago while I was on the train one morning  while on my way to work. It was what I envisioned to round out the spiritual download that I returned with. Titled, “Earth - Hallow” , an ethereal light seen through thick woods. “For visions come not to polluted eyes.” - Mary Howitt   

 

There were a lot of aspects to this project that meant so much; the most exciting part being as inspired as I was to complete this group, was to then be accepted into the exhibition, my first significant showing in over a decade. 

GROUP 2:

As if sharing the story of the  EF FR TC group, wasn’t enough, I wanted to assemble this group as it is an essential aspect. Energized by the collage workshops that I started hosting at the gallery recently, this group required the careful composition of the shells that I collected. I needed to clear up some space to work on this group, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. It wouldn’t have come together without this first step. 

The next step was to remove the sand trapped in the grooves and find a suitable backing. Thankfully, I have plenty of scrap wood and cut down a couple of sheets to seven squares to mount the shells to. I arranged the groups into subtle meditative scenes grounded by  an earthy background palette, and sutty lines solidifying intention.

Each shell (and one piece of garbage) seemed to hold a story; together, I saw pilgrimages and small gatherings in abstract form. They are stand alone pieces, but work as a group as well. I wanted to honor the magic and mystery of the island with each composition. 

With the completion of both groups, I can only hope that I served the memory of a very special moment with love and redefined meaning,   

Time-lapse shot of group 2 being worked on.