Pamela Beach
3,800
36x48
Oil on Panel
Portrait of an Artist
By Pamela Beach
Biblical accounts speak of the creation of the earth, specifically pointing out in Genesis 1 verse 3, "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." An interesting phrase, given that later, in verses
14 - 19, the sun, moon, and stars are put in place. How was light place before there was a source?
There are many good interpretations to this verse, but I present one that I have been thinking about for a decade. Perhaps the earth was bathed in thoughts, ideas, connections. Things to flow through our minds, ideas to plant and develop. This "light" proposed biblically may be represented as the creative spirit - the intangible thing that flows through all of us, pushing us toward creative acts. A
"source", placed in reference to something we would need, something available to us to become one with our own creator.
This pull to create - this difficult thing to explain - is exhibited here by artists as they attempt to articulate the reason they do this. The reason they return day after day, to a profession that can be harsh, isolating, and financially difficult. There must be something powerful that drives them to take on such a difficult but rewarding task. The difference in their answers offers the most complete view of the act of creation.