November 5, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
Whimsy and humor in the sacred art of Sarah Teofanov
Hymn to
Isis
I consider myself to be a cultural historian/risk-taker and mythmaker, working within the feminist/spiritual context of creating a sustainable culture. All of my work is a simple attempt at creating a context for wholeness, wellness and a future that is inclusive rather than exclusive.
I work in the mixed media format; on paper, on wood, and freestanding sculptures. This allows me to claim the mixed media culture in which I live, and use it in my storytelling. My art reflects my personal life journey: remembering it, reclaiming it, and re-telling it in a political/holistic form. This documentation process has been a rewarding and nurturing experience and one that has clearly informed both my art and myself.
As above, So Below. Blessed Be.
Labyrinth
Goddess
Sarah Teofanov is a visual artist, teacher, community ritualist and peace activist. She moved with her family to Farmington, New Mexico in 2000 from Montclair, New Jersey. Working in a mixed-media format, usually on paper, she concentrates on women's myths. Her work has been in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC and numerous national juried shows as well as museums and private galleries.
Ms. Teofanov has led community rituals at retreats, for conventions, and created private "rites of passage" rituals for individuals. She has lectured widely on her work and given performance pieces along with installations in the United States as well as the former Soviet Union. Collaborative projects, which she has conceived and executed, have gone to Uzbekistan, China, Ireland, and Africa. She worked with students in Montclair Middle Schools to create part of the World Wall for Peace at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.Artwork designed by her has been used internationally to raise money for Bosnian rape relief and locally for Breast Cancer Awareness.
Sarah Teofanov is committed to working with her children's schools as well as within the larger community to integrate the arts and wellness. In 1999 she designed the poster and button for First Night Montclair. She has participated in and led women's rituals and drum groups and in 1995 she was honored by Montclair's YWCA as one of the "Fifty Women You Should Know".
Sarah has taught creative process classes and led workshops on Women's Mysteries in Seattle, Montclair and now in Farmington. These classes and workshops concentrate on storytelling, creating personal myth, and learning in a community context with the support of the whole group. These classes and workshops challenge the western view of artist-as-commodity-producer and link up with the universal view as artist-as-vision-keeper-of-the-culture.
All images and text by copyright. No part may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written authorization of the publisher. In the name of the Goddess please respect this!
Crow woman Puts
on her Coat to Heal the Earth #2
"Goddess Numbers"
Mathematics has been associated with soul growth and God/Goddess realization since before ancient Egypt. The Egyptians seem to have inherited this system of belief from the culture they claimed came across the big ocean and founded their current culture around the sacred Nile river. Tied to this system of sacred numbers was the ability to "Equip oneself" to rise to the stars and become one with the cosmos rather than be born again on the ancient cycle of reincarnation.
Giclee
Mathematics, music and sound/words, movement, astronomy and healing were all connected and studied in the "House of Life". This system was passed down to the Greeks only after they were willing to become initiates in the Egyptian temples. The secrets of the Universe were not to be separated from the spiritual path and could not be learned on their own. This system was carried down through teachers like Pythagoras and his secret societies.
During the middle ages these societies passed on the study of mathematics and the sacred systems via Hermetic thought and the study of Alchemy. They used their mathematical formulas to carry on their secret language in the construction of the large cathedrals in France, Spain, England and Italy.
With the recent rise of interest in the Goddesses and the systems of wholeness they originally represented, mathematics, sound, and healing are becoming integrated once again. New Physics reminds us of our place in the web of life and respect for all living things as a result. This Goddess has integrated into her the sacred numbers of mathematics used in those systems.
Goddess washing
dishes
Please visit Sarah's web site to see more of her images and to order prints and cards!