A convergence of creativity resulted in a new multi-sensory showcase at Roberts Creek’s Gumboot Café, led by Gibsons-based painter and sculptor Michelle Neilson. Neilson — a business entrepreneur reviving an artistic impulse first refined through a fine arts degree at the University of Alberta — uses black acrylic on wood panels to explore two interconnected themes: Consciousness and The View Is You.
“I like the idea of combining deep and philosophical subjects, but with a whimsical approach,” said Neilson. “I also wanted something that was accessible and attainable.” The crisp-lined motifs of her paintings simultaneously embody ancient references (the all-seeing eye inspires introspection and shared experiences) and cutting-edge technological quandaries. Their subtext, The View Is You, addresses the paradox of artificial intelligence: when digital systems analyze, predict and influence human behavior, technology starts to mirror our own wishes and whims. She warns of excessive exposure to the digital world typified by endless doomscrolling.
As Neilson developed her vision through artwork, she discovered connections with the writings of emerging local poet Deanna Bell, whose poems are featured alongside the wood-backed artwork. Five years ago, Bell began writing reflective essays as what she called a “rant.”
“My whole life I’ve been a spiritual seeker,” Bell said. “I was raised that way by my mother; I travelled and studied Buddhism and dabbled in Christianity. I wanted to find the truths in all of them and help people let go of attachment to their beliefs, because it [single-minded devotion] causes so much division and hatred.” Articulating her philosophy in prose felt too ponderous. Bell reached for poetry instead, transposing her spiritual discoveries into verse.
Neilson urged Bell to share and publish her poems in the interest of benefiting others. The result was released last week, in sync with the start of the two-month exhibition. The Quantum Spirit: A Poetic Journey to Source is Bell’s first published work. Neilson’s many-eyed figures — sinuous and beguiling — adorn its covers.
Culture’s halting embrace of artificial intelligence also triggered a chapter in Bell’s book. In it, she peppers the algorithm with existential queries: what is the meaning of life? Does God exist? What happens after we die? Its answers are wide-ranging and casually erudite. (“Ha ha,” it states at the chapter’s conclusion. “What a ride.”) A.I.’s philosophical ruminations appear alongside Bell’s robust paeans to human virtues like love and creativity: “transform my perception’s artistry / harmonize the chaos within my heart,” she writes.
In the course of readying her artwork for the Gumboot exhibition, Neilson also enlisted musician Alcvin Ramos. The Japanese-born Ramos (who lives in Madeira Park) is an acclaimed teacher, performer and maker of the shakuhachi bamboo flute. For over a year, he has led regular Sound Journey events at High Beam Dreams in Gibsons, using his instrument’s captivating sound to induce transcendent states in attendees.
Neilson said something clicked when she participated for the first time. “I felt the melancholy energy in the instrument,” she said. “By the end of it, Alcvin and I were hugging. When you meet like-minded people, you can celebrate their milieu or talent, but you can also come together in a classic example of being greater than the sum of the parts.”
Recordings of Ramos’s music are accessible by scanning QR codes adjoining Neilson’s artworks on the café walls. One song is an original composition; the other is a shakuhachi setting of a 14th-century Gregorian chant. “I felt the energy of Michelle,” said Ramos. “I could see the connections, foreshadowing what would happen.” This week, Ramos will attend the World Shakuhachi Festival at Texas A & M University where he will teach a workshop on the ancient predecessor to the modern bamboo flute.
The trio celebrated the launch of the artistic collaboration with a Gumboot gathering on April 4. The show remains on display at the café until June 7. Copies of The Quantum Spirit are available for order from Amazon. Its title seizes on recent scientific discoveries that support the truth of ancient wisdom — including the notion that the material world is created through mortals’ perception of it.
Metaphysics aside, serendipity lies at the heart of the tripartite Consciousness. “This is three artists who have each done their own thing, but it all happens to work together,” said Bell.
