Elizabeth Shatner’s ‘Florosophy’ A Yogic Exercise By JAMIE ELLINFORBES
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lizabeth Shatner’s photos are shared interactive experiences imbued with love of life and giving. The textural quality ingrained in the work offers a quality of the unexpected find. Like a stroke of good luck, the imperfections of process or lighting to capture and honor the truth of the moment is offset by the overall artistic expression in each image. As these works are unstaged and have not been set in any way, they are spontaneous and deliver the hand of God as seen through her lens. After a long and successful career training, showing and judging horses, Elizabeth Shatner turned to digital art o express her love of nature and her keen eye for line and pattern through this medium. All her life she wanted to paint; in digital art she has found the means of expressing her insight into nature by portraying sacred symbols such as hearts and angels in extreme close-ups of flowers and other parts of nature. “There’s a whole philosophy behind it, that speaks to me and also serves as an icon for a specific memory that I want to keep or hold as a meditation.” More than just reproducing the flowers displayed in the work, Elizabeth Shatner seems to merge with the photos she takes. Her cameras’ eye captures the field of energy of her subjects as if she speaks to each flower. Then Elizabeth shares the experiences, the tempo of the moment portrayed in each work of art, with the viewer. Elizabeth’s work is intrinsically woven with the thread of light into a cloth of her love of nature. She describes her process as a yogic exercise filled with adoration and respect for nature. The individual personalities of her subjects — roses, delphinium orchids and poppies — portray their treasures and secrets to the lens. In differing flashes of time and light, amorphic Pantheistic shapes not always associated with their origins such as lovers, hearts and angels are outlined; caught transcending expectation. The term coined by Elizabeth to describe the association she sees between nature and the flow of philosophical thoughts or questions triggered by studying a flower is Florosophy. Through the close intensity enabled through her macro lens, meditation occurs. Why is a heart the symbol of love? Could it be that when man first wanted to express the emotion of love, he gazed into a beautiful fragrant flower and felt love’s well-being? Perhaps from that time forward the heart became the symbol. Elizabeth shares with her viewers her intention to uplift and instill a goodness she has seen in nature back into life—hers and others. Florosophy is the means. 74 • Fine Art Magazin • Spring 2008
Heart Shield
Swarz Angel
within the inner sanctum of this beauty as related through her camera’s eye. Elizabeth notes that “It is a proven theory in physics that thoughts or intentions effect matter.” She poses the question, “Can flowers grow with the intention of being a gift symbolic of love?” Following is a poem composed with her husband, William Shatner from their collaborative collection.
Mourning Swan
In the image Swarz Angel (recently purchased by California Governor Arnold Schwarzeneger), a black orchid’s center mantel reveals two angels, or one, depending on what your vision is. The purple and green petals of the outer flower support the inner white angel wings portrayed on the inner. The outline of two indicates they are in communication. Elizabeth sees this as “The flower lifts up one as an angel lifts up another.” She sees hope and comfort offered
Mourning Swan Out of Darkness emerges Light. Mourning to Morning. From the Ugly Duckling of grief And loss is born a beautiful swan of light, hope and love. “Our Souls are warmed from lives that were torn... before”