The Kawak and Deep Visioning

Can art help us to SEE in a new way? There is much mystery in the world around us – we are not seeing all of the beauty and connection that exists between the natural elements of our environment. I want to us my art to make the invisible content of our world visible.

In the high Andes of Peru, the shamans, known as paqos, give a rite of initiation called the “kawak karpey” or “seer rite.” This initiation is given in order to help the receiver to start developing their kawak, or “vision” — an ability to see the invisible forces that are at work in the world. This process involves building pathways between the visual cortex of the brain (located towards the back of the head), the “third eye” or 6th chakra, and the heart — the three centers that are key for developing this ability.

The development of the kawak is vital in the shaman’s skill as a healer, as a healer’s must possess the ability to track the subtle energy of their clients. As an artist, or a viewer of art, it is helpful in being able to draw the connections between content and emotional effect. Paintings use color and form primarily as a way to reach the viewer and make connections. The subject matter (or lack thereof) may also play a role in this. If you look at one of Georgia O’Keefe’s flower paintings, you may react “Flower!” and this carries a certain emotional response. But the way in which the flower is portrayed… a single blossom filling the entire canvas with bright reds and pinks and yellows… not to even mention the other associations that the floral forms evoke. The flower becomes MORE than a flower — we as the viewer become transformed and we see connections that we weren’t aware of before.

I have coined the term “deep visioning” to describe this process. Coining a term has proven easier than making it happen in my art! But none-the-less, this is what I am striving for. I consider all of the “New Paintings” on this website as experimental — I welcome your comments as feedback to let me know where I am succeeding and failing in this endeavor.

7/23/10