Written by We welcome guest blogger Laura Pollak to share a little divine inspiration for her beautiful abstracts!
I clearly remember the hoopla when Sputnik was launched. I even had a tiny gold ring with a minuscule garnet in the center with lines carved in the gold flaring out from the stone that made it look like the Russian Satellite. I was 2 and a half! When I was seven, I had a best friend named Marilyn and we fervently believed that there was life on other planets. We would lie on the grass and stare at the clouds above. We decided that we would ask the universe to chat with us. I came up with the perfect seven-year-old solution to converse with the heavens. If a cloud crossed the sun in exactly 3 minutes, then that meant that there was life in the universe other than our own. Brilliant, right?! Marilyn and I were delighted on many occasions [of course on partly cloudy days] where G-d spoke to us and confirmed our suspicions in the ‘most scientific way’!
Needless to say, I’ve been enamored with shows like Star Trek and Star Wars. The possibilities of what lies out ‘there’ are endless. And of course Buzz Lightyear was my hero with endless optimism. When our boys were young and always curious, we took them to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. My fascination with outer space deepened. The brilliance of minds that could imagine travel to the moon and beyond was incomprehensible! Not to mention the math required to figure it out was a true marvel. When we returned from that trip, our older son did many science experiments with home made rockets and I tuned in to the International Space Stations’ online video on a daily basis. I watched as they narrated their experiments and shared shots of deep space out of their windows or from their space walks!
Nowadays, I am enthralled with the WEB telescope and its images have actually changed our theories of the heavens and creation! The spirituality of these wholly new photos, tease the imagination to go far beyond our terra firma. In my art career, I have looked at and painted the creations of geologic wonders here on earth, then looked down beneath my feet and below the surface, but in the last few years with new inspiration from these crystal clear photographs of outer space, the lights and colors have me looking UP to the heavens!
I still wonder about other intelligent beings out there. I’m more and more convinced that we have no right to be so self centered to think that our planet houses the only living creatures in this vast universe.
So, I ponder, play and invent paintings that let us consider the possibilities, and I am always looking up and continue to have dialogues with deities.
Please check out Laura’s website for more inspiration and information about her art and 2024 art workshops! www.laurapollak.com