Sandgrounders will have the opportunity to experience the unique artwork of Crosby artist Linzi Saunders in her forthcoming solo exhibition at Southport Contemporary Arts.
There will be in excess of 40 mixed-media artworks from Linzi who works predominantly on wood and canvas, preferring to paint with acrylics rather than oils because of their lower impact on the natural world.
With an innate love for colour and texture, she often incorporates fabrics, recycled items and natural materials into her intricate imagery.
“I will be presenting a varied collection of my work that will offer a sense of the differing energies that can be tapped into in the world around us, if only we can be free enough from the chatter of the mind to notice and really feel these forces at work. My hope is that when viewing my work people are really able to feel the energy within each piece of art. Despite being classed as inanimate objects, each piece really does have a ‘life’ of its own.”
Based on her own life-journey, Linzi’s pieces often contain multiple layers, representing the vibrating dynamisms and oscillating complexities of psychoanalytic theory. By weaving together the internal with the external worlds, Linzi creates work that is constantly fuelled by her own fascination with the layered complexities of the human psyche, the collective unconscious and the natural world.
“I’m always tapping into the subtle energies within my own inner world and the world around me, including those that are exchanged within relationships between people that mostly happen without conscious processing. I often represent these energies within the textures that occupy much of my work and they feed into the layering approach that is linked to the multi-faceted, complex layers of the human psyche.”
Inspired by eclectic spiritual teachings, Linzi is constantly aiming to strip back these layers within herself through each creation.
“As a homeopathic and shamanic practitioner I have an animistic perception of life and so see artwork as having a life of its own. I believe it’s this life energy that ‘speaks’ to us when we are drawn to a particular piece of work. Due to this I like to infuse as much positive energy into my work as possible, often beginning my first layers with positive statements, affirmations, mantras, poems etc, or my work may openly include a written message.”
Although Linzi was always a creative child, there was little opportunity to express her artistic temperament during her formative education.
However, the combination of personal trauma and a series of encounters as a counselling therapist later in life changed all that.
“Not long after entering my 40s, at the end of yet another academic training course to improve my skills as a counsellor, my whole world came to an abrupt halt. I was completely burnt out and barely had any energy to tend to the most basic tasks. I was also in lot of physical pain, suffering from anxiety and subsequently diagnosed with fibromyalgia.”
However Linzi’s reunion with her love of creating aided her recovery and she believes that much of her healing has resulted from her artistic journey.
This solo exhibition is an opportunity to experience Linzi’s extremely original artworks.
“Rise and the related Buddha images were born out of the intensity of the energies at play during our lockdown experiences. The fear-based culture that intensified at this time compelled me to dive deeply inwards to connect with levels of serenity that could not be found in the external world of media coverage and mass hysteria. These images represent a level being that can be accessed at all times, regardless of environmental influences. They serve as a reminder to visit this place of being on a regular basis in order to function optimally as a compassionate and connected human being rather than one driven by differences and divides.”
The exhibition runs from Tuesday to Saturday both weeks and Linzi will be at the gallery herself on the afternoons of 3rd, 5th, 10th, 11th and 14th May.
There are facemasks & hand sanitizers available at the ArtHouse should visitors wish to use them.
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