Transforning Journey: Art Inspired by Trip to Myanmar

Cinnamon Memories 1

Cinnamon Memories 2

Cinnamon Memories 3

Cinnamon Memories 4

Bagan Discovery 1

Bagan Discovery 2

Saffron Memories 1

Saffron Memories 2

Travel transforms you, changes how you see the world and how you see yourself. Going to Asia, but especially Myanmar in 2012, was a transcending experience. The place is spiritual and the journey was too. Here is a series of my visual impressions of what I experienced there- the landscape, spice markets, fabrics, stupas, golden Buddhas, and especially, the people.

This series of one-of-a-kind monotypes with gold collage is my visual reflection and my visual memoir of a voyage (both external and internal) I will never forget. The art was inspired by my trip and the journey inspired me in so many ways, visual and others. I finished the series in late 2012 and then edited it more in 2013 as I thought about it more and added and subtracted  as it took a while for the images, ideas and memories to percolate in my mind's eye and manifest themselves more fully. Does the process ever really end? At some point, I say enough! I am ready to call it finished and let the public see it.

I showed some of these first in my solo show at Da Vinci Art Alliance in May 2013. Several of them are now available at the Accent Gallery in Ocean City, New Jersey. Contact me at garf621@aol.com for more details.

Why Travel? Someone once asked me

Natural Bridge in Western Australia

Beaches are spectacular in Western Australia

Singapore skyline

Halong Bay in Viet Nam

Halong Bay in Viet Nam

Buddhism is a part of the culture throughout Asia

Young monks learning in a monastery

Outdoor markets with fresh products are all  over Asia

Rice paddies are all over Asia

Primary school children in Luang Prabang, Cambodia

Sunset in Laos

Rivers and fishing are a mainstay in Asia

Shwedagone Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, former known as Burma

Someone once asked me why I wanted to travel so much. He was content to stay home and maybe take a few days to go 60 miles to New Jersey to a change of scenery. I said that God made this beautiful world and it was my job to see every inch of it!! I do love the visual beauty of it and am in awe of what glorious diversity and grandeur there is. But there is more to it than that.

For one thing, one’s world view is enlarged and deepened by travel– particularly by experiencing new places through the eyes of the people who live there. You get to see and experience things as others do. Nothing was brought home so much as our recent trip to Viet Nam where we viewed the war that we lived through from a totally different perspective. It was not an easy one, I must say, even after all these years. I will be writing more about the Viet Nam experience in future blogs. It is an amazing country and was a complex and wonderful trip.

I have a very strong desire to nurture experiences in parts of the world that are most foreign to me. With increased telecommunications, we are all citizens of the world and I want to become more familiar with the many wonderful people and cultures that inhabit our planet. I love that I have Facebook friends from my travels to Australia, Africa and Asia! I reluctantly went to Myanmar and was delighted with the experience. I wanted to wait until Aung San Suu Kyi was freed to go. but were have been in other tyrannical countries and I had been told the people are wonderful, so I went. I will tell you more about that spectacular trip in future posts. Extraordinary place!!

Travel is, in and of itself, an education – a discovery of the commonality of people amidst great diversity. It is fun as well as deeply meaningful! Travel nurtures me.