Featured Artist Carla Woody

Artist Carla Woody presents a portfolio of dreamlike paintings inspired by travel and spirituality. Visit her website to see more of her work.

 

 

Looking back in time, it seems the contrasting roads I journeyed dovetailed to bring me to the place I am today. I began drawing and writing in childhood, unguided. I believe the years my family lived in Paris and European travels during my adolescence formed my appreciation of art, diversity and culture predicting my later years.

 

 

In the early 1980s, I moved to Germany for four years. There I started oil painting lessons. At the same time, my travels extended to North Africa, the Middle East and Russia. It was then I started writing travelogues home and created paintings that gave a sense of place. Beyond that, I’d started meditating in the late 1970s, a life-long daily practice, leading to spiritual studies. In turn, I wrote essays and journaled about these deeper endeavors until, without my realization, they entered my artwork. I’m told my paintings are emotive.

 

 

I tell stories through my art and consider my paintings no different than the books and essays I’ve written. They document experiences in a sacred journey that seek growth in my own inner life, and understanding of the human condition, in this world and beyond.

 

 

When I returned to the United States, I started mentoring with the late Hawk Pope, a Shawnee artist and leader, related to oil painting. Due to his influence, my focus shifted toward Indigenous ways of being. In 1994, I began studying the traditions of the Andes, and widened my travels in South and Central America. Along the way, I developed relationships with Indigenous leaders and healers who served their communities.

 

 

These years deepened the intent of my paintings by embedding traditional Indigenous principles: the value of Mother Earth, all beings, community and how decisions today impact future generations.

 

 

I worked as a US civil servant until 1992 when I made the leap to a life that most suits me. I’m known as a spiritual guide, artist and writer. In 1999, I established an organization sponsoring spiritual travel journeys, retreats and individual mentoring. In 2007, I founded a nonprofit benefiting Indigenous communities. By 2024, I closed those organizations to focus on my artwork. I still travel to far-flung places and occasionally write.

 

 

My formal education includes an MA in Human Relations and advanced certifications in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Hypnotherapy. I learned how to work with energy through Indigenous peoples. My art education is mostly self-guided with added workshops. Since 2015 I’ve worked in oil and cold wax medium. The many layers I use create depth and effect of light on color.

 

 

I’m a lover of metaphors, using them in my artwork as well as writing for their ability to offer a portal toward larger meaning. I may use landscape and the figure, but they’re meant as vehicles to transport. Cues may be found in titles of my works, but they’re not the endpoint or even guidance. Really, I’m inviting the viewer to enter the painting and find what’s there for them personally, as I do when I’m creating.

 

Carla Woody invites you to follow on Instagram and Facebook.

 

 

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