The reasons people are attracted to art are as varied as the images themselves. Artwork is most powerful when the image triggers the viewer’s own personal associations or if it gives them some insight into an aspect of themselves. This personal connection allows them to feel like the painting was created just for them and, in a way, it was.
As an equine artist, my life’s work is to express myself through images of horses. In my quest to portray horses in ways that are meaningful rather than merely aesthetic, I have found that horses represent a bottomless pool of powerful personal interpretations. Horses are more than beautiful animals; they are beings that embody ranges of expression from quietude to intense emotion. Their beauty, strength and wild nature strike a chord in us which no other animal touches.
When I create a work of art, I am responding to an inspiration within me that forms itself as an idea and a composition. Yet where does that inspiration come from? I have discovered it is partly an expression of my emotions and life experiences. However, at a deeper level, I have come to believe it is my intuitive response to an unknown need in someone, somewhere, who will find meaning in what I create.
I have found that this mysterious process of inspiration and creation is in itself a living work of art. My ability to create my ideas on paper allows me to visibly see and trace the connections that happen when someone I encounter finds meaning in the same things I do.
Just using a single painting as an example, I could come up with countless interpretations that others have revealed.
My painting, “Spirits take Flight” features a golden eagle and a horse blended as one being, at the moment they are about to ascend. One client loved this painting because he was a horse lover, and he also loved flying his ultra-lite airplane. For him, my painting portrayed the feelings of freedom that flying and riding gave him.
Another personal meaning from “Spirits Take Flight” was for a woman from Italy who was starting her business as a certified Monty Roberts trainer. To her, the wings of the eagle over the horse represented the concept of enlightened training changing the horse’s perception from humans as predators, to that of protectors. She purchased the rights to use “Spirits Take Flight” as her logo for her training business.
Often, a horse owner sees their own horse in the horses that I paint. I myself have bought artwork that resembled my own horses. Interestingly, the likeness doesn’t necessarily have to be total, as long as the feeling of the painting captures the feelings they have for their horse. A familiar turn of the head, a horse that has similar markings or colors, or a subtle essence can make this horse – our own.
The majority of people who love horses don’t have the opportunity to own them. In fact, a large majority of my collectors aren’t horse owners. Many of them feel that artwork feeds the part of their souls that longs for horses.
And sometimes the horse art isn’t about horses. One collector was moved to purchase my painting called “Skyward” portraying a paint filly set against the blue sky – because for some deep reason even she couldn’t name – the painting reminded her of her husband and son who she had lost in a tragic accident. The quiet presence of the horse in my painting brought her comfort and a sense of closure.
Art is a form of communication, and when the message it conveys strikes a chord in the viewer, it gives the art a greater purpose than that of being merely pleasing to the eye. There is magic to be found in momentary connections like these, when someone looks at a work of art, and sees in it the illustration of their own heart.
(For more information on Kim McElroy’s equine art and lifestyle, visit www.spiritofhorse.com.)
Copyright © 2008 The NW Horse Source, LLC
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