Where Do I Come From? Who Am I? Where Am I Going?
Where Do I Come From? Who Am I? Where Am I Going?
During many years of living in Boston, I would frequently visit the galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts. There I became acquainted with many extraordinary works of art: a Devi Mahatmya manuscript from India, an Atal stone from the Cross River region of Nigeria, and Paul Gauguin's 1897 painting, from which I have adapted the above title. Gauguin considered this massive work (nearly 14 feet long) to be the summation of his life work. This website functions as a précis of own reflection about these questions.
Between late 2013 and 2015, much of the activity on these web pages centered on my blog. The devastating flood in Jamestown, where I lived for 15 years, resulted in many changes in my life and creativity. The Practice Chair, pictured above, was swept away but lives on in my imagination. Now, more than three years later, life is settling in unexpected ways. Besides writing regularly, I moved into a new studio and began drawing again, and new work is visible on my Art pages. In mid-April 2017, I concluded a second 100-day retreat in the studio; and in April 2018 I will conclude a third 100-day retreat.
My name, Deborah, means queen bee in Hebrew. I balance activity, alone and with others, with contemplation. The upheavals in my personal, professional, and larger creative life have demanded diligence and discipline as I cultivate fresh ways of looking at the world and innovative ways of working. In such a context of change, the larger website functions as an archive of my work, as well as a platform for exploring my intellectual, artistic, and spiritual aspirations as they move into the future.
Wheel of Existence thangka
Bhutan, 1980s, Collection of Deborah J. Haynes
