MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

May 30, 2022

This week we recognize the work of artist    Dominique Mazeaud.

"The Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande (above) was a seven-year performance I began in 1987, my heart calling to speak and act through the intention/attention-filled gestures of ritual. Once a month, I walked the river’s bed and banks doing a literal and symbolic cleansing. The deep-listening portion being as important as the collection of found objects. A journal, “riveries,” chronicled my song as an Earth heartist."

"Thirty years ago a funny little word flew in on the wings of a western wind and burst forth from the river water I scooped up in my hands: the name heartist."

"For many years, I used Marina Abramovic’s quote as a preamble to my biography: “Art, it’s not about doing, it’s about being.” Years later, I met Ulay, Marina's former partner, in Japan while working on re-enlivening a deserted island. Correcting his ex, he said, “Art, it’s not about doing, it’s about becoming.” Doing art is partly becoming one’s definition of art. For me, it comes to the word heartist. I have written about heartist, but today I prefer to let it speak for itself."

"The children, our children, are very much aware of what is happening to the world. In this outdoor installation (above) in 2014 at the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve in Santa Fe, marking the 50th anniversary of the signing of The Wilderness Act, they decide not to wait for us and go on a Pilgrimage to the Wild."

The heartist's Secret (above): "Dominique takes us on a journey through her life and practice that offers many rewards to those whose hearts have been broken open by the uncertainty of this time and other previous traumas. She translates wisdom that come from different culture perspectives with deep respect and filters her process through the lenses of dream work and intuition." Beverly Naidus

"As I began recovering from a major hiking accident in 2010, I was called to do art that would encompass my present circumstance and continue to be inspired by Nature’s prompts. One Thousand Arms of Compassion (below) is an installation bringing to light the visible relationship between letterforms and Nature. It consists of a thousand forked branches looking like Ys, installed in concentric circles in the tradition of the mandala."

Dominique Mazeaud                 is an artist whose ritual performances and installations are considered prayers. Her passion is the Earth, and her identity belongs to Spirit. The word heartist reflects the gift of listening to Nature. The term results from Mazeaud's quest for "the spiritual in art in our time," which she has sought to answer since 1979. Heartist is a word unifying life and art and suggests a way of being in these transformation times. Dominique Mazeaud was born in France and has lived in the United States since 1967. In 1987 she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she resides today. Mazeaud organized the traveling exhibition Revered Earth for the Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, 1990.    earthheartist.net

Featured Images, top to bottom: ©Dominique Mazeaud, The Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande, 1987-1994; 173 Heart Rocks Plus One Broken Heart, 1995, installation at CCA, Santa Fe; Pilgrimage to the Wild, 2014, installation for Wilderness Acts outdoor exhibition, Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico; The heartist's Secret, 2021, a memoirby Dominique Mazeaud; One Thousand Arms of Compassion, 2010,Y-shaped twigs, 9 x 9 feet. Photograph from Alan Eckert.