Art and Hope | Anne Wright | Stoking Radical Hope

The Art of Sustained Hope

Find Uplift

Witness What Is

I believe hope is a fire that needs to be fed every day. I make art for you if you want to feel lighter while leaving each place better than you found it.

Find your way. We each have our ways of finding voice for those hunches.
Art is one way to open the door to what is wordless but wants to be brought into form. Here is more about how my art underpins my way of living and finding my way. Find more art at my Art Gallery.

Despair as Threshold

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Enter Despair as Threshold

Despair as Threshold

9x12" acrylic on paper
sold

Despair swamped me in looking for anything impactful to do to address conditions we are facing at this time. I was living in Jordan, not far from the devastation occurring in Gaza and the West Bank and feeling despondent. And it was in the entry into defeat, that I was able to access another kind of hope. Beyond the "empowered hope" favoured by positive psychologists (and very essential for many situations in life), into the hope without hubris that actually partners with the greater mysterious life force. It was only by surrendering my old ways of efforting and trying to make a difference, that I was able to realize that while I have a part to play, I cannot know the impact and influence of my actions entirely. And so, I pursue the good as far as I can discern, without guarantees or evidence of result. Discerning good as best I can, by expressing from the gifts and opportunities I have been given. My art is one of those gifts. And an ongoing curiousity into the nature of life is another. Despair is the gargoyle at the entrance to this temple of a more enduring hope, part of the fabric of Life as it is.

Tidal Pool 1

51x61cm, acrylic on wood, mixed media. for sale

Fresh Morning in a Broken World

152x76, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, for sale

Bright Harvest

31x41 cm, acrylic and mixed media on paper, framed, for sale

Embrace Uncertainty

Open to uncertainty as an essential part of navigating conditions that are bigger than you. These art pieces don't try to make sense of it all, but swim in the confusion, beauty and terror of not knowing it all.

Find Uplift amidst Challenges

Mud Lake 2

36"x36", 91.5x91.5cm, cold wax and oil on wood panel

Accompaniment

61x122cm, cold wax and oil on wood panel, for sale, $3400 USD

Britannia Pier

76x76cm, oil and cold wax on wood panel, for sale $2700 USD

"We have more in common with flowers than microchips". Rosemary Berger (associate editor, Sojourners magazine)

There is power in uplift: taking action that is aligned with your gifts, maintaining your vitality, finding joy and play even in difficult times. It is moral to be inspired and renewed even when conditions are dire.

The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where te wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the green heron feeds,
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
and I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Remember The Long Game

We have outcomes that we want and hope for. And for the scale of what we wrestle with in these times, we need our long game. It can take generations before there is a breakthrough that we might see as progress. Hope beyond Hope draws on stories from elsewhere, history lessons, and the humility of remembering that we are part of a larger whole.

Go Deeper than Love

76.2x152.4 cm, encaustic on wood, sold

Gravity's Law

122x122ccm, encaustic on wood, rented

My Bonnie

30.5 x 61 cm, encaustic on wood, for sale, $850

contact Anne

Witness What Is

It's tempting to "la la la" -- stick your fingers in your ears and turn away from seeing again and again to cope with the feeling of overwhelm and distress. And yet, witnessing. Learning about what is happening and what is contributing. And at the same time, also registering and counting as "what is" what the news doesn't report because it is not "news". As important as being tuned into the wider world, witnessing "what is" inside is equally important... the sorrow if it's there, the anger, the numbness and "no-go" zones. Being able to bear it all will equip you more potently to reliably connect the dots and take conscious steps.

Lac Megantic

61x91.5 cm, encaustic wax and oil on wood, for sale, $2600 USD

Khobezay

Khobezay is the wild mallow green that is one of the few edible plants to be found in Gaza in spring 2024. 61x61cm, acrylic on canvas. for sale $1700 USD