Soul and Space Exhibition: Opening Remarks from Tom Smart

Opening remarks by Tom Smart, from the Soul and Space Exhibition:

There is a branch of the philosophy of perception called "phenomenology" that took hold in the last half of the twentieth century. It combines ideas on art, seeing, landscape painting, and spiriituality in order to argue that we perceive the world with our entire being, not simply our senses. The phenomenologiests give us a context for understanding Beverley's artistic intentions, her method of selecting subject matter, and her painting process.

In essence, phenomenologists consider the world to be in an unfinished state. Rather than regarding nature as being built and finite in its organization and sturcture, this school of thought views it as an ever-evolving phenomenon whose limits are continually expanding, inexhaustible and realized only through deep engagement of human intelligence and creativity with nature. In these terms, artists are central to mediating and defining the relationship between the human and natural realms.

This philosophy speaks deeply to the work of landscape painters, particularly Beverley. Phenomenologists declare that in the perception of the natural world you can discover personal truths because not only what you project but also what you receive is yourself. This, I believe, is the essence of Beverley's paintings that we see around us.

For Beverley, the relationship between the self and nature is modulated through many layers of matter and experiences. She travels through the landscape in an artmobile, seeking the moment and the place that speak deeply to her. This dialogue determines what subjects she chooses, and the message she wants to convey.

Beverley's subjects tell us that there is a common energy between the land, her and us. This animating energy flows through all things, human and non-human alike. As viewers, Beverley invites us to look closely at her paintings and sense the bonds we have to it, be they physical, sensual or intuited. The knowledge we might gain from the experience elevates our awareness and is a central component of a full perceptual experience.

Perceptual experience adds layers of subtlety and nuance to our appreciation of art and the landscape. As Beverley shows in her paintings, perceptualism involves tapping into a primary energy source that animates all creation - human and natural. Her work shows us that there is a profound, fantastic unity in all things. Her art is mystical. It probes the nature, scope and depth of her personal reality, and the wide spectrum of real experience.

The reconciliation of subject and object, the finite, the real, and the infinite is Beverley's subject. Her ideas and quest - artistic, aesthetic, philosophical and spiritual in nature - are directed to placing herself and us in the state of receptivity to the immanence of matter and the full reality of daily existence. 

In these terms, the world for both the artist and the viewer is self-actualized, given shape and form through the complex interactions of the human sensibility with it. Nature's pregnancy of meaning and its capacity to be transformed through human engagement are fundamental beliefs of the reverent person seeking perceptualism's transcendance.

Through her art, Beverley reminds us that we are as much the land we experience, as we are the bodies our conciousness inhabits. She tells us that our conciousness and soul are expansive and that they have the capacity to enfold the world and spaces we live in, travel through, and simply stand still and experience. 

Congratulations Beverley.