Karen Blanchet: Sacred

Karen Blanchet: Sacred

My ambition with every work is to create a space where people can meet the divine. Celtic tradition called these opportunities "thin places."  According to the Celts heaven and earth are only three feet apart usually. Thinness meant the division between the divine and the mundane becomes translucent, transparent even. Thin places provide a space where the divine can touch us and we can touch the divine.Within my paintings sacred symbols abound. The sacred is what binds our world and undergirds all that I do. The glow beneath the image represents the Cosmic Christ who created everything and invites us to join him/her in the dance of co-creation. The circles flow in and out, some visible and some invisible, just as the Holy Spirit flows, ever present, not always recognized.And so, everything is sacred.

In its capacity to teach us, sin is sacred too. My greatest, most profound lessons in life came out of the confusion and pain of mistakes and their consequences. God has used everything for good. Great suffering yields great transformation if we allow it. Transformation produces the possibility of union. Becoming one with our Creator and all his/her creation is the whole point. Thin places. - Karen Blanchet