"I am a visual artist, I learn by painting and drawing. It is for me not a means of producing a product but a means of investigation and understanding. Over the 35 years that I have been painting I have investigated many things related to anthroposophy and spiritual practice. The Calendar of the Soul, The 12 Moods, the exercises from How to Know Higher Worlds, Occult Science and The Philosophy of Freedom all by Rudolf Steiner have occupied me as a painter, as well as themes such as “What is Collaboration?”, “the Development of Morality”, “Transformation through Turmoil” and “Creativity and Devotion”. I am currently involved with a long term collaborative work on life, initiation and death called the “Lazarus Project”.
To see the world through careful attention and then to follow this world inside to perceive the subtle movements, relationships and songs is the work of the spiritual researcher. To do this and then to bring these perceptions forth again through my instrument is the work of the painter".
Projects:
an exploration through painting
The Revelation to John, also called the Apocalypse, is the last book of the New Testament of the Bible. It is a complex and difficult text to come into relationship with. But it is a deep experience to know it well.
The Lazarus Project is an ongoing collaboration between Finnish multimedia artist Sampsa Pirtola and New York painter Laura Summer.
The Lazarus Project was inspired when a colleague of ours who works to end gang violence in Los Angeles, said to Laura, “ I am interested in the image of Lazarus”. We took this to mean, “What is needed today to wake up from a death like sleep of mat
Revelation 7:13-17
13 Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?"
14 I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his tem
33 paintings in response to poetry of woman poets as they describe their relationship to God
An experience of union with God is not so easy; the relinquishing of self, the realization that you, in your day-to-day self, are not so important. As I gradually achieved moments of awareness amidst all the moments of doubt, I found I had no words to describe them but I f
For many years I have worked with "The Philosophy of Freedom" by Rudolf Steiner. Because I am a painter I understand by painting. These series of paintings were done as I gained understanding of the book.
The experience of the Gospel of Saint John
A project with many parts.
How can we learn to know something on a deeper level?
“Saint John relates what he experiences as an initiated seer, who could look into the Spiritual worlds…. Whoever looks upon it as a book that one should read and understand in the same way as one reads and understands any other book knows nothing of th
In 2017 I began to investigate the Hebrew creation story Gen 1:1-31 as described by Rudolf Steiner in his set of lectures titled Genesis.
Installation Lightforms Art Center - Hudson NY 2021
What is it to make blue together? Is that task more difficult if each person is on a different side of an ocean? What language does blue speak? What medium would be best?
Developing the Virtues
Whether you call it God, or Buddha, or Krishna, or Christ, or something else, there is an activity, a Presence, that is moving humans toward truth, beauty and goodness. We can access this Presence if we turn to it, but what is the practice of turning? It can be prayer, or mindfulness, or meditation, but it can also be creative activity dedicated to this Presence, because crea