ConeArtists is coming to Anahata Healing Arts Center this Friday, and with it comes a whirlwind of positive energy, artistic motivation, and, most astoundingly, bright pink pine cones.
Melissa Hagerty started putting ConeArtists together after seeing a film at Anahata [Healing Arts]. “They were looking for an artist for the month. I had been accumulating a collection of paintings inspired by my trip out west in November of 2012,” says Hagerty, who was “captivated” by the differences between Savannah and the “open, flat, arid, desert full of cacti” she encountered in the Mojave Desert.
After learning about the history of the area, Hagerty began to develop a narrative to “expose the desert” and the “peaceful energy” she found there. Using modeling paste and acrylic paint, she highlighted specific moments from her trip that envelop that energy.
“We parked the truck in the middle of nowhere, got out and ran around the cacti, discovered bone carcasses and came across patches of brightly colored melons growing out of the dry dust. It was like coming across treasure, and their liveliness and excitement was what I tried to capture in my paintings,” says Hagerty, who argues that there is a “vibrant life” within the aridity of the desert.
Quickly, Hagerty’s arrangement with Anahata turned into something much bigger than she had initially anticipated.
“The offer to merely hang my work in the new gallery space quickly developed into the gallery informing me that I had that entire Friday night to do whatever I wanted in the gallery and yoga space. This opened up many doors for creative expression,” says Hagerty, an illustration alumnus.
The show will include paintings, illustrations, mono prints, installation, performance art, poetry, live-sculpture building, and of course, refreshments. Hagerty is seeking to “ignite” each sense and considers energy an important part of the event’s success.
Before the event begins, Hagerty invites friends and show-goers alike to join her for meditation. The energy garnished from the meditation will then be channeled into the musical acts to develop a corresponding atmosphere for the event.
And atmosphere is something Hagerty has already started to create around town this week.
“I have been using hot pink pine cones placed around Savannah as a means for promotion,” says Hagerty, who has been painting pine cones for around two years and leaving them in cities to which she travels. The project is called “Hot Pink Pineal Cones” and seeks to educate pine cone discoverers on the biological and spiritual importance of the pineal gland.
Hagerty explains, “I wanted to teach people about the pineal gland, because it is an important gland in our brains that we do not normally learn about in school. It is important in many religions and is believed to help us achieve a connection to our higher selves and has been called a ‘portal’ to our souls. The idea of a portal is where this art show really seems to take on a life of its own.”
That portal will be physically developed during the show through the use of a “melatonin-portal fibers installation” that will greet attendees at the entrance before entering a collision of artistic mediums within the gallery itself.
“I painted with the intention of creating meditative work that [brings] the viewer into the work, allowing them to explore the ethereal world I have created, and leave with a sense of magic, mystique and contentment,” she says on her attempt to embody so many different elements of the human experience.
Hagerty’s only wish is that the energy of that embodiment will transfer onto attendees and go with them when they leave.