Spiritual Direction

Going deeper with Spiritual Direction

by Karrie Kirchner

My art piece Spiritual Direction and the participation in Spiritual Direction continues to gift me with deepening understanding of my own Spiritual Journey and in companioning others along their own paths of inquiry.  

A month into my journey in becoming a certified Spiritual Companion, our class was asked to share a reflection.  Our mentors invited us students to share our thoughts and feelings in written essays, art, poetry, or any other method that felt right.  I started writing out my feelings, but quickly set down my pen. It seemed that certain objects were calling me to collect them. Intuitively, I picked up a map, a doily and some burlap fabric.  I grabbed a canvas and quieted my mind. I let my hands to do the work.  

The Map

I knew that I needed to use a map - a clever play on finding our way in life.  The background needed a sense of familiarity. Like the kind of map that hung in my fourth grade classroom - you know the kind with multiple maps curled around the same spring-loaded scroll.  At the same time - the map had to be unidentifiable. It’s a map - but of no coastline seared into your mind’s memory bank. The jagged outlines more akin to Mordor than Montana.  

I held the map in my hands.  Then, I started ripping the map apart.  This is how I could achieve the familiar yet foreign sentiment that needed to be present in this piece.  In my own process of Spiritual Direction, I was examining my life, my foundations, belief systems, my world view.  Some pieces of my life felt ripped apart. Yet, other aspects of my life felt more vivid and grounded than ever before.  Session by session of Spiritual Direction, piece by piece, picking up, examining, holding, witnessing, honoring, settling everything down again.  It was as if my whole perspective was getting shaken up and glued back down - just like this map.  

The Doily

First, I must confess that I collect vintage fabrics and fibers.  Tablecloths, silk scarves, hand me down clothes, prints, plaids. I am in love with texture, color, and how things feel in my hands.  

This doily practically jumped out at me because it looks like a compass rose.  How about that for way-finding in the journey of Spiritual Direction?

The Burlap Fabric

Burlap is known for being unassuming and utilitarian.  It’s rough and woven. The brown paper bag color is plain and humble.  

Woven material is created by laying a foundation of warp fibers vertically and then running weft threads under and over to create the fabric.  A bunch of fibers have to be spun and twisted together to form thread. As a hand spinner, I am romantically in love with the acts of spinning and weaving.  Swirling and spiraling. Then rhythmically repeating the weaving motions of moving up and down - under, over, under, over. The movements become meditative. The fabric reminiscent of the highs and lows of emotions and waves of connection to The Divine.  All of these acts are present in fabric.  

This particular piece of burlap is jagged and frayed.   Unraveling. Moving from order to disorder and back again. Uneven edges.  

The Hand-Prints

These hand-prints are uniquely mine.  They also symbolize the whole of humanity.  Hands were pressed onto the map. Negative images of each other.  One is empty. One is full. Yin and Yang. Shapes, vessels, substance, outline. 

While I had my hands on the uneven canvas map, my heart was directly centered over the heart of the art.  I remember feeling the physical connection between my art and me. I felt (and continue to feel) an energetic exchange.  It felt peaceful, grounding and true.  

The Spiral

This spiral is made up of swirling, tiny dots.  The spiral is centered in the canvas. It mirrors my heartspace.  An ancient symbol. A journey. Simultaneously expanding and contracting and all the space and movement in between.  

Spiritual Direction will be on display at the Monastery Gallery in West Hartford, Connecticut from January 11th - April 22nd, 2020.