ARTIST’S STATEMENT                           MAREN SINCLAIR HURN

          What would the world be like with self-acceptance?

What? We came close to losing Carlos Santana, the musician, to suicide because of his hidden unresolved feelings of being molested as a child. His wife of over 30 years divorced him saying that Carlos seemed to be holding back divulging his whole self. His friends found therapists for him. With witness, he became whole again, found self-acceptance and shared with the world a published autobiography.

The Universal Tone, Bringing My Story to Light.

The journey into acceptance of my imperfection began with a nighttime dream I had over 8 years ago. I dreamed of a little 5 year old girl eagerly flashing her pierced eyelids at me. Each lid had been pierced with a nail. Sure got my attention! This was one very disturbing image that I could not ignore. I eventually got in touch with something that started for me at an early age: hiding of my unique differences to feel accepted and loved.

Through witness and sharing, I have been making progress with self-acceptance. I feel more alive as I explore my uniqueness and create art work connected to the crippling effect of hiding who I am. Healing through self-acceptance informs my wall-hung face sculpture:

SELF-ACCEPTANCE/STORIES/HALOS

Hanging on many of these sculpted faces you will find hand made copper dog tags with “NAME of this sculpture and a STORY. Why “story”? Stories are my favorite learning tool.

DOG TAGS

These were made before I replaced using the word shame with the term self acceptance. Personally, this self-acceptance has allowed me the opportunity to share who I am, my uniqueness, and hopefully be less judgmental of others!

HALOS

I use these ancient symbols to express each human’s unique and special version of life. There has only been one of each of us in the whole universe.