An exhibit featuring Lelia Davis, Lori DiPasquale, Shannon Dunn and Rebekah Hayden
Light and Shadow Artist Statement The Light and Shadow art collection emerged during the long, cold months of winter. This dark season paradoxically inspired deep reflection on illumination. In turning toward nature for guidance, we found creative insight in the rhythms of the natural world; in shifting seasons, dappled sunlight through trees, elongated shadows, and celestial bodies suspended in the sky. These observations revealed that exploring the external landscape mirrors the inner emotional world. Like nature itself, the creative process is a dance of opposites: stillness and movement, control and surrender, silence and voice. As humans, we are not apart from nature but a part of it. When we seek truth within it, we inevitably uncover truth within ourselves.
Light is often associated with warmth, clarity and welcome, while darkness is linked to discomfort, obscurity and fear. Yet one cannot exist without the other. It is contrast that reveals form, value, and meaning. Without shadow, light has no definition. In both art and life, silhouettes reveal shape, and shadows confirm the presence of illumination. Through this interplay, the true essence of all things is made visible.
This dynamic is echoed within the human emotional experience. In moments of darkness, perception shifts and imagination awakens. The absence of light becomes a fertile void where reflection occurs and transformation begins. Much like winter prepares the earth for spring, emotional darkness composts the past and nourishes future growth. With each rotation of the earth, we are reminded that darkness is never final. Every sunrise stands as quiet proof that light will endure.
The sun, earth’s original source of light, embodies creative force and vitality. Its energy warms the planet, stirs the oceans and guides every seed hidden in dark soil toward growth. Its power echoes in lightning, auroras, and flame; each a memory of the sun’s first fire. In contrast, the moon shines with borrowed light, reflecting the sun’s radiance back to earth. Constantly changing, it teaches that life unfolds in phases; waxing and waning, fullness and decline, yet never remains stagnant. Even when reduced to a thin crescent, the moon carries the promise of renewal.
Through the rhythm of the sun and moon, we learn acceptance. Darkness is not something to resist, but something to experience with trust, knowing that light will return. To be human is to live within both illumination and shadow, joy and sorrow. These forces are not in conflict but in quiet partnership, each giving meaning to the other. Every ending carries the seed of a beginning. Every dusk gives way to dawn, and within the interplay of light and shadow, peace is found.
