The Masquerade: Karen Blessen and 29 Pieces- Finding Your Way To Love

A journey bound by both humility and love, pressing her bare feet against a road that is sometimes dirty with “selfishness, greed” and pain sharp enough to break her skin, but she continues to push forward, not for her own benefit, but for the sake of the hearts and spirits of others. A true personification of some of the scarcest positive qualities found on earth, Karen knows her purpose in this world and strives to make each moment about something greater than her own desires.

"Enter into the joy. Overflowing records and unruly spirits"

 

"If the very world should stop"

 She creates art to inspire everyone to create some level of positive change in their life and in the lives of those around them. Everyone has a greater purpose, and she works to “look at the divine in every person [she meets] rather than criticize or judge” because we all have something good within our hearts to give. “We’re all contagious in one way or another”, you don’t need a title or an abundance of money to change the world, like “checkers at whole foods” we posses some of the greatest “energy and power.” She explains that each day people who work at registers make more than just a monetary exchange, they come in contact with more individuals than those who spend their days behind computers and in boardrooms and they can make a substantial positive influence on the hundreds of people that they meet each day.

"Make my hands respect the things you have made"

 “I have been on that path of selfishness and greed, power and money”, but that only led her to think that everything that was important to her at that time didn’t “cut it” anymore.  Though a manifestation of six years of meditation and over 30 years of artistic experience and journalism, Karen “recognized the power art has to influence the world”, she began to want more from life and ultimately she began wanting more for others. With all of the deadlines, bills, consumption, and monetary requirements we consistently endure or are accustomed to it’s hard to focus on giving to others, but when we all embrace our purpose with selflessness, honesty and love it will lead to a level of security, completeness and faith that cannot be supplied by possession. The intricacies of this world are a part of a greater sphere, everything repeats itself; life, death, history, but eternal phenomena like love are never-ending, they can only grow if nourished or dwindle if ignored.

"I see no imprint of my sins. In a moment, love has burned everything"

"I make my home in your hearth"

 Karen has created a multitude of works including books and visual art. In 1989 she won a Pulitzer Prize for her articles and art work in the Dallas Morning News including Diary of a Confetti Engineer, One Bullet - the story of a murder committed in her front yard, and Faces of a Plague - which tells of her trip to Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa  leading to a production titled “Today Marks the beginning” which raised a total of 40,000 for villages in Malawi. She describes her experiences in Africa as both “humbling and life changing.” “I was surrounded by women who had lost their mothers daughters while caring for up to 30 children.” “I saw how the rest of the world lives.” These experiences “changed me fundamentally, here I was writing about the New York City new year commission” and there were people around the world living with unbearable diseases, trying to survive, continuing to be grateful for what they have while giving their hearts to those around them. “I began to study different faith passages, meditating on these Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Buddist (etc.) phrases and everything shifted.” “I went from one path of journalism and” became “full of love.”

"Sharp like a razor’s edge is the path, difficult to traverse. Cutting through the veil"

"Dying of love is what I hope for"

Her goal with 29 pieces is to get people to “stop and wake up.” So often we get caught in the day to day, temporarily sated by entertainment, only to find that it’s not that we are bored or tired but it's our souls that are hungry for change and direction, for deeper satisfaction. “I created 29 pieces of models to tell a story of where my spirit wanted to be until I found my answer.” With 29 pieces “I want to open up peoples hearts” and teach a “love lesson.”  Her goal is to transform her 29 models into grand scale installations with beauty that can resonate into the hearts of others, taking what we’ve experienced in the past whether it be loosing someone we love, heartbreak, hate, or anxiety (etc.) and transforming it into a “compelling conviction on love.” 

"Cleave the heart of a raindrop, a hundred pure oceans will pour forth"

Please visit 29 pieces to see the complete collection along with meditations, and help Karen Blessen attain her goal by giving a donation to transform her collection of small scale models into large scale installations.

8<3Track Honey


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