James Bay Art Walk Profile

Sylvia Ahonen. Intuitive HeARTist

The writing of these profiles usually involves me presenting the artist with a list of "stock" questions that they may choose to expand on.  I then shape the article to best reflect their essence.

Sylvia Ahonen decided to speak from her own voice, making my writing involvement minimal.  This is what she had to say.

With eyelashes kissing the tops of my cheeks and legs entwined in Ardha Padmasana - half lotus pose, I sit in luxurious contemplation.  My breathing steadies, grows deep, slows. My lungs expand and flood with thesacred breath of life. The rise and fall of my personal mantra lulls me into a state of transcendental bliss. Incense spirals up to the crown of my studio. I pose a question in my heart and meditate with my brush between my palms. The paintbrush will become my eleventh finger -an extension of my emotional body. Infused with the intention of my deepest longings, the listening brush will come alive and begin to speak. And such, my work creates itself.  This is the tale of my innermost Truth captured on canvas. This is the record of rich conversation between my higher Self and I.

My grandfather was a painter. His ferocious passion for this form of creative expression is apparent in his every brushstroke. My mother painted long ago. One day, I warn her, the love affair will reignite and she will paint feverishly with flushed cheeks and pounding heart until she collapses in a pool of sweat and oil pastels. They say paint runs in the blood. My creative background is self taught and "genetically transmitted" as I like to say with a giggle and a twinkling eye. When I am not expressing myself through this medium, I am actively exploring life through dance, yoga and Eastern spirituality and energetic therapies. My work is deeply reflective, intuitive and spiritually seductive, influenced by my explorations within.

The insights gleaned as a result of inner journeying have always served as my greatest source of inspiration. Allowing my work to create me, rather than the other way around is my modus operandi.  The artist is a conduit much as the healer is merely a facilitator, serving only to hold sacred space as the healee heals thyself. I believe that every act of soulful expression is artistic in nature.  Spirit readily expresses itself through the open and willing channel. Art will essentially create itself so long as the artist is attuned to the force beyond the urgency to bring nothingness into form. Art is an adventure. Art is a necessity. Brave is the heart that dares to harness the imagination. There is no greater joy than this.

In Lak'ech