“Art is not born from noise or crowds but from silence.” – Leonora Carrington
The Jaffrey Civic Center is thrilled to announce an unusual group art exhibition, ‘Born of Silence,’ featuring paintings, sculptures, and mixed media art made by artists who meditate. The exhibition will be held at Cunningham Gallery in the Jaffrey Civic Center from August 9, 2025 to September 18, 2025.
The exhibit is organized by local artist, Joan Hanley, a contemporary figurative painter and life-long meditator who worked with these artists in art residencies in Maine, Ireland and New Mexico or online in the Art & Yoga Community. The artists work in a variety of styles and materials. What they all have in common is a passion for art and meditation.
Some have been exhibiting in NY Galleries for decades, like Shawn Dulaney who’s work has appeared on the cover of Architectural Digest magazine (2022) and has been reviewed in ArtNews and The New York Times. William Zimmer wrote: “Dulaney makes it clear that her inner life is very much a part of each painting, and this alone distinguishes it from most abstraction…Shawn Dulaney is deliberately out for grandeur, but she is also out for intimacy.”
Keri Straka, a professor of Art at Framingham University, whose embellished ceramic and fabric works draw on the human form as well as geological structures, had a solo show this summer at the esteemed Boston Sculptors Gallery.
Some of the artists are accomplished in other fields, like Ph.D. psychologist Patricia Sullivan who came to painting later in life for the healing power of the imaginal realm. She writes in her artist statement, “ I paint as a way of illuminating deeper conversations in my psyche, attending to the symbolic language of the unconscious. Working in water-based oil paint with a limited palette I primarily paint dream images.”
Many of the artists are inspired by nature and concerns for the environment. Coleen Davidson’s silk collages, soft sculptures and installations are rooted in the fragile marine environment of rural Nova Scotia where she lives. Laura Clark’s current watercolor painting/collages address the precious evolution of our comparatively microscopic planet. Elizabeth Kelley’s abstracted landscapes reflect a lifetime spent along the Maine coast, and Lisa Lenox begins her abstract works with charcoal gathered from prescribed burns on public lands in the Midwest. Jill Goldman-Callahan is a contemporary abstract painter who works intuitively with unexpected natural materials.
In these complex times this exhibit brings together artists from diverse backgrounds and places who share what is born in the silence of their meditation and their studios. At the entrance to the gallery is an installation by New York artist Stephanie Joyce, who says about her practice, “My focus is to enrich community through the arts. I strive to bring the sacred to everyday life. I think of my art as my offering.”
