Into the World, 18"x24" Charcoal on paper
Watching and Waiting, 18"x24" Charcoal on paper
Cathedral of the Unknown, 18”x24” Mixed media
Becoming Still…Still Becoming, Pastel on canvas paper
Holding Space
Homewood Residents Artist Show | |November 2024 | Judith Jopp
My mother was an avid gardener and loved to take long walks. She spent hours outdoors. She would often say, “I need to put some sky in my head.” Holding space can be that sense of openness inside where “space” can so easily be crowded out by emotions, thoughts, worry, and so much more. Holding space is the breathing room to find the intersection when the vastness of the unknown becomes the very stillness of our inward experience.
Holding Space also evokes a paradox — of what lies between two disparate beliefs, experiences, memories, or any infinite number of polarities:
• what is and what could be
• our bodily experiences and spiritual intuition
• what was and what is becoming, or will become
• who we are to ourselves versus who we are with/to other people
• what is and what could be
• our bodily experiences and spiritual intuition
• what was and what is becoming, or will become
• who we are to ourselves versus who we are with/to other people
What does it mean to “hold” space? Space by its nature can appear a vast void — how do you “hold” it? An unknown emptiness or the very breath of all that is. To hold space is to be present, flexible, responsive, reflective — to believe that anything and everything is possible. To hold to the belief that good will prevail despite outward appearances – that life will offer abundance even in the face of seeming lack.
Holding space can also be the pause at the apex of change:
• How we begin to see ourselves differently when we can see ourselves through the eyes of another.
• The moment we fall in or out of love
• Walking away from a relationship, a person or towards them
• The instant we start to forgive
• The shocking introduction to a truth or a betrayal that changes our worldview
I can see holding space as the inner calm between opposing tensions. And while that apex, that instant in-between can seem a small thing, it holds an expansive gesture — for in that instant, anything is possible. This is the inner experience my art expresses for me.
• How we begin to see ourselves differently when we can see ourselves through the eyes of another.
• The moment we fall in or out of love
• Walking away from a relationship, a person or towards them
• The instant we start to forgive
• The shocking introduction to a truth or a betrayal that changes our worldview
I can see holding space as the inner calm between opposing tensions. And while that apex, that instant in-between can seem a small thing, it holds an expansive gesture — for in that instant, anything is possible. This is the inner experience my art expresses for me.
Judith Jopp
joppjude7@comcast.net
joppjude7@comcast.net