The force that propels the human spirit on the clear way forward is the abstract spirit,” said the artist and philosopher Wassily Kadinsky. He could easily be describing Lynn Rae Lowe, the artist, businesswoman and celebrant. Her journey and offerings do forward the spirit by example, manifestation and guidance.

Lowe crossed the threshold in life, passing through maiden and mother into her crone, becoming a life-cycle celebrant. Her compassion for life passages and living events comes from thriving through personal experiences of trial, tribulation, breakthroughs and breakdowns. She is a spirited example of how depth is created and eternal wisdom is manifested.

A two-decade journey as a professional artist required Lowe to
manifest the strength of spirit, both human and abstract. Every foray she made into the frontier of the imagination was fraught with questions without reasonable answers. Her heroine journey faced fate and circumstance with creative panache.

At the turn of the century, with her husband at her side, she created a breakthrough of artistically spiritual expression with the iconic tabletop dancing figure metal sculpture. Wildly popular, the couple committed to mass produce the piece, entering a torrent of events that tore the fabric of certainty into shreds. The seismic shift in global labor and resource forces and the untimely death of her husband shook the artist at her core.

Labor and material costs skyrocketed as foreign economies competed with cheap labor and inflated steel prices. Tied to a sales price point challenged by the new global economic model and committed sales orders, the newly single woman had to make executive decisions that honored her integrity. “I had to stand on my own shoulders,” Lowe recalls. She turned to her son for help in fulfilling agreements and completing contracts. When the dust settled, Lowe was intimately familiar with the inner spirit—the unfathomable understanding that cannot be spoken, yet can be felt and experienced. Kadinsky’s abstract spirit showed itself through her human spirit.

Following her soul’s heart’s desire, Lowe knew she had to find a unique creative expression independent of the market forces she had been forced to hone her spirit on. Using what she knew and didn’t know, Lowe realized an age-old art in a new way. She found the secret to move beyond producing a commodity, as the lesson of the dancing figures taught her, to expressing the light that comes through Lynn Rae Lowe.

“What I am known for,” she says humbly, “is taking a flat metal surface, using color and texture, making it move like the dancing figures appeared to.” The metallic canvas vibrates a tone that changes scale and rhythm when viewed by dancing the scanning eye from various angles. She completed 368 pieces in various sizes of the “Alumination” series, depicting quiet to tumultuous images.

Her life’s work of art includes the award-winning “Dancing Sylphs”, menorah sculptures, tribute walls, Aluminations and an upcoming book. Giving back, she offers transferring access to the imaginative spirit through creative thinking and expanded intuition in Drawing It Out workshops. “Happiness is not an idea of reason but of imagination. Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere. Reality leaves a lot to the imagination,” Lowe says in her workshops. “All great masters believe that their gift is an ability to imagine.”

Lowe closed her retail space at Metal Arts Village recently and placed her art in several art galleries, freeing her to create work for an art show that will open on her 70^th birthday, and to pursue her soul’s calling as a celebrant.

The one-woman art show, opening in November 2016, will be a depiction of the mystical qualities of the Hebrew letters and an illustrated workbook for personal contemplative journeying. A legacy project for the artist, this event is a statement of eternal wisdom. As Lowe prepares herself to enter the creative process, she is reflecting on what she has learned as a professional artist. The process includes collating and archiving over 2,000 sketches and finished work, as well as re-connecting with artists who have influenced her.

“I learn from the masters,” Lowe says. She describes her study of Chagall’s silkscreens as a transformation by

stained glass artisans who broke up the artwork into planes, changing how the forms and images worked together. “I decided to do the same with my images, using what I learned,” she says. As Lowe gathers recollections from her artistic influences, she reflects the quality that is brought to the role of a celebrant.

New beginnings, transitions and remembrances are events that raise life to a shared level. From cradle to grave, through the experiences of expressing our gifts, moving through phases and surrendering to time we seek legacy significance. The want and the need comes when one recognizes that life is to be celebrated in all its joys and sorrows. Otherwise, it can only be seen as chaos, absurdity and suffering.

Lowe’s role as a celebrant is another recognition of “standing on my own shoulders.” She has churned life through artistic breakthroughs again and again, passed through maiden and mother to crone as a bright light and is now seeing past her time reaching to leave a legacy for others to find their wisdom. Her every breath is a celebration.

For more information about Lowe, her art works, celebrant offerings and writing, email [email protected] or visit LynnRaeLowe.com. See ad, page 9.

Dale Bruder is a regular contributor to Natural Awakenings. Connect at [email protected] or DaleBruder.com.