My passion for creative self-expression returned, in 2018 after attending a Sacred Art Shamanic retreat in London. Prior to this, I had trained in both art and photography as student, 20 years earlier, but life took me on a long detour.
Over the last 5 years, re-discovering my passion for fine art and photography – has helped me square an uncompleted circle and become a vehicle for healing, self-exploration and helping others do the same. My work has an almost identical style of expression in its finished form to my former style. However, the process and purpose of what I do, has deepened immensely with the adventures and lessons those twenty years taught me, and each piece tells a soul story.
In my current Exhibition, Peninsula Dreamscape I will be presenting a collection of images, some of which are shown in the gallery section of this site, which depict the beauty and magic of this sacred. Viking Land – the Shotley Peninsula.
The exhibition will be held at Woolverstone Berners Hall, in Suffolk (just past the Suffolk Food Hall )on the 5th and 6th of November 2022, and is a collaboration with 6 other local artists. Admission is free and there is plenty of off-Road parking.
Using photography as my primary medium, my art is intuitively driven and portrays stories and themes I have explored and worked with whilst living on the Peninsular. It is accompanied by sketchbooks if you wish to dig deeper or enjoyed in its own right as a short looping movie. I am happy to answer any questions about combining meditation with art – and now integrate therapeutic art time into my work with holistic healing. Come with an open mind, and I will show you the treasure I have found, diving down the rabbit hole.
I studied art and photography at college, and alongside more formal studies found paintings, especially self-portraits a superb medium for exploring who I was and resolving old painWhen I left Nottingham in 1999 and came back to Suffolk, I stopped art practice completely and soon established a marketing agency as well as training as a therapist, to help others deal with similar issues that I had been through and for 10 years, practiced as a holistic therapist using a range of techniques.
I found my way back to art by attending a retreat in London in 2018, which used shamanic drumming to go deep into meditation and then paint what we saw. Although I was very rusty, I persevered and gradually regained a regular art practice, finding this once again highly therapeutic.
Then in 2021, my passion for photography returned, as I was building a new website to relaunch my healing work (www.epiphanie.co.uk), and decided to make the website more personal by shooting the imagery myself. I took inspiration from nature here, as the magic of this peninsular and spectacular beauty is perfect for a healing orientated website. My passion for both healing and art returned with full force and continues to grow daily. I currently use art in three main ways:
I also still to this day use art to process and release emotions on a personal level. I am not a trained art psychotherapist but understand how pouring all of your emotion into a physical representation, and then disposing of, or burning it, is a highly effective way to release emotional charge and restore inner peace. I also mediate daily, using drumming to take me into an altered state of awareness to solve problems and find my own answers to life’s questions and choice. Painting or sketching the imagery I see on these inner journeys, helps me to unravel their meaning in more detail and also keeps a record of how my life is progressing.
I also now make art for myself to express things I want to attract into my life. I am qualified in Feng Shui, and fully believe that painting or creating with intention, and then hanging these images in the correct sector of the home is a powerful way to improve our lives. At different times we also need our energy balanced, which can be done through the use of shapes, colours and symbolism. So I am building a library of energetically charged Feng Shui art commissions to assist clients quickly obtain the imagery they need to balance their home. I also make power objects, through mediating on what a person needs, and creating something infused with healing energy in physical form.
I am currently working to combine imagery into meaningful collections – that can be projected or made into animated films. I am passionate about raising awareness of mental health issues and combine my interests in my two key focus areas to help others feel less alone, gain more self-acceptance, and help others around them understand a bit more about how emotional problems can feel.
My website only shows a tiny collection of photos at the present time, but more will follow over the coming months.
tel: 07780 612625
email: rachel@ikarma.co.uk