The title for my blog is also the title for my upcoming exhibition at Bromfield Gallery in Boston. I chose it after a conversation with a friend who shares my ongoing interest in finding ways to slow down in the modern world with its ever increasing pace and technological advances.
To pause is to notice the transitions between moments - to move thoughtfully and consciously from eating to talking to washing the dishes to walking the dog. I began to bring this practice into my life when I recognized how much of the time I was disconnected from what I was actually doing in the moment, my brain having already moved onto the next thing on my to do list. As I considered the implications of the word “pause,” I simultaneously began notice it everywhere.
Poetry and contemplative practice have been part of my life since I was in my late teens Struggling with depression and anxiety.
Poetry and contemplative practice have been part of my life since I was in my late teens struggling with depression and anxiety. I was fortunate to find a therapist who was also a Buddhist. As an extension of his spiritual practice, he held a weekly two-hour sangha where patients and community members alike meditated in a spacious, sun-filled room. Meditation became a refuge for me and a way to make sense of things. Returning to my breath and that quiet, unchangeable, unbreakable space inside helped me navigate the difficult periods of life, enabling me to stay present and connected.
There is a poem by Ashtavakra Gita, a Hindu master from the fourth or fifth century B.C., that I often think of when I am in the studio working. It’s one I’ve shared with my yoga students at the end of practice.
I am the boundless ocean.
This way and that,
the wind, blowing where it will,
drives the ship of the world.
But I am not shaken.
I am the unbounded deep
in whom the waves of all the worlds
naturally rise and fall.
But I do not rise or fall.
I am the infinite deep
in whom all the worlds
appear to rise.
Beyond all form,
forever still.
Even so am I.
For me, these words capture the stillness at the center of our being, despite the noise and confusion of the world. At the same time, they position us as not separate from, but rather an intricate part of, this complicated and powerful place.
The thirteen paintings that make up the body of work in PAUSE represent my effort to capture motion and stillness, as well as celebrate the beauty I find everywhere - from dense urban cityscapes to quiet forest paths and bodies of water that reflect an ever-changing sky. I think of my paintings as visual poems, in which repeated patterns, brushstrokes, and marks signify breath, light, reflection, movement, change, and thought, and in which 23 karat gold leaf represents the light that dwells within each person.
PAUSE will be on view at Bromfield Gallery April 1 - 26 with an opening reception Friday, April 3, from 6-8:30. To purchase a copy of the exhibition catalog for $20, contact dietlind.vanderschaaf@gmail.com.