JoAnne Artman Gallery, Presents in the Main Gallery:
“Spirit in the Sky” Featuring Fine Art Photographer Jana Cruder
December 28th, 2015 – January 28th, 2016
Open Wed-Sunday, 11-5 & by appointment
SPIRIT IN THE SKY
Never been a sinner I never sinned
I got a friend in Jesus
So you know that when I die
He’s gonna set me up with
The spirit in the sky
Oh set me up with the spirit in the sky

The life-changing event of leaving Ken in the previous series drove Barbie to seek understanding of her role and relationship to spirit. She questions the very core of her beliefs and steps out of her strict Christian upbringing to search for herself. She examines first, the religious constructs of the standard Christian American upbringing, moving to creation vs. evolution. Discovering how societal roles and relationships play out, she sees how they’ve shaped her filter of understanding of self-image and she begins seeking a higher consciousness. This series is set in mid 1960s America: an era of youth cultural uprising, war, media and musical influences that urged the challenging of old ideas and the embracing of new ones. Ideologies of new, religious yogic and breath-work movements, a spiritual awakening and freedom from conformity emerged. Not unlike today, this was a time of seeking, freedom, pushing for peace and love beyond that era’s comprehension. Barbie also seeks higher consciousness with psychedelic experimentation allowing her to transcend the external world and discover the true nature of divine existence. As we follow Barbie’s path of exploration we are reminded of where she is at in her journey by the color in the image reflecting that of the chakra’s: starting in red, the root chakra, and ending at violet, the white enlightenment.

Please join us as we celebrate Jana Cruder’s Spirit in the Sky!

Jana Cruder’s work will inspire, provoke, engage and mesmerize. With visual perceptions always changing, peek behind the stories told and you’re sure to find the right artistic expression!