An Exhibition with Heart

Wellington Artist Emily Fletcher Creates a Series of Paintings & Altarpieces Centred on Personal Well-Being, Courage And the Art of Meditation.

ROSES OF THE SOUL | 2–17 AUGUST 2019
POTOCKI PATERSON ART GALLERY
LEVEL 1, 41 DIXON ST, WELLINGTON

The current Wellington exhibition Roses of the Soul at Potocki Paterson Art Gallery, is showing works that artist Emily Fletcher describes as ‘contemporary devotional images’. Emily talks about the leitmotif of the rose as a symbol of the heart, speaking to the cultivation of love, courage, self-awareness and selflessness.

‘The contemporary zeitgeist requires us to transform fear into courage on a daily basis, and works such as mine are here to help with such an important task, because courage is connected with our heart. The heart is intrinsically connected to our feeling life and when we are able to move beyond the push and pull of our emotions, beyond subjectivity and into a greater connection with our higher self, this heart space can become like a compass of truth that allows us to radiate love’.

Emily hopes that her works will be a source of healing for others and provide a pathway into a daily contemplative practice. ‘The key to all human and global issues today is the awakening, as individuals, to our own highest qualities. To become more conscious and present in
our way of being – in a way that will serve others and the world’.

At the opening someone stood in front of a painting and said ‘when I look at this I feel hope ... if only we could take it back and hang it in
the office’ ... And I thought – this is exactly what I was envisioning these works to do – to provide hope and healing in the most mundane of places.
Emily, who is co-founder of Alamandria: The Art of Self-Mastery, Mindfulness and Meditation is co-facilitating Creative Meditation Sessions, with her colleague Mark Geard, in conjunction with the exhibition. ‘This will enable participants the opportunity to move beyond viewing the works from a purely subjective viewpoint, by entering meditatively and imaginatively into the creative content and working with the idea of inner soul nourishment and ‘heart health’ – which has been the inspiration behind these works’.

So why meditate? Emily says, ‘meditation is one of the most transcendent, transformational and freeing deeds we can do as human beings. It is a practice that enables self-development, self-knowlege and awakening, and its fruits can be a service to others and the world. Meditation is not about escaping from the world but becoming more present and centred within it’.

Link to Emily’s website and bio

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