Success...

"The key to success..."
© Lloyd Pollard 1996
8.5"x11"
pen & ink on paper
First published in this blog.
Previously unpublished and not exhibited.

The key to success lies in the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the mind.

Magical Man...

'A Man's Magic' © Lloyd Pollard 1996
18"x13"
pen & ink on paper
Published by kukulu Gallery.
First blog publication.
(Original in Private collection)

Guardian...Presence...
Sacred...Warrior...
Charismatic...Destroyer...
Sage...Healer...
Divine...Authority...
Petty...Instigator...
Fear...Scarred...
Silent...Light...
Boundless...Lover...
Immortal...Dreamer...
Soulful...Architect...
Brilliant...Father...
Hope.

Tattoo...

'Ancient Man, Divine Warrior' © Lloyd Pollard 1998
18"x24"
pastel & acrylic on paper
First published in this blog.
Previously unpublished and not exhibited.
(Private collection)

He wears the history of his every hope, thought, action, pain, prayer, tear and fear as an unapologetic tattoo.

The scars of his life adorn him.
The youth of his soul sustains him.
The silence of his presence strengthens him.
The serenity of his nature sustains him.

Sacred Birth...

'Birth from the Self' © Lloyd Pollard 1994
8.5"x8.5"
pen & ink on paper
First published in this blog.
Previously unpublished and not exhibited.

From within are all things born:
From the things we crave to the things we fear
From things not known to things of awareness
From things uncertain to things of presence
From things of desire to things of divinity
From things of a 'sinner' to things of a 'saint'
From things of pain to things of joy
From things of silence to things of expression
From things of 'failure' to things of 'greatness'
From things of darkness to things of light.
We are all possibilities and potentialities.
Be.

Goddess...

'A Woman's Love' © Lloyd Pollard 1996
13"x18"
pen & ink on paper
Published by kukulu Gallery.
First blog publication.
(Original in Private collection)

You are my Love
You are my Light,
Your are my Passion
Your are my Sight.

You are my Grace
You are my Courage,
You are my Abundance
You are my Knowledge.

Without you there is no Light
Without you no will to Fight.
With you there is a Desire to be
All elements of my unfathomed Mystery.

From thy feet I will Rise
From thy hand I will Devise the fates of worlds yet to be born.

In your light I will Live
In your presence I will Give,
In your spirit I will Survive
In your love I will Thrive.

With you I will be more than my childlike history.
With you, I will live out loud
laugh out loud
learn out loud
love out loud
create out loud and
dream out loud.

For this privilege I say, thank you mother, sister, wife, daughter, lover, confident and friend.

Collecting Art (Part 3 of 3)

Finding you inner voice.

The accumulation of art is a personal act.
Hang it in your special place.
View it in your moments of need.
Share it with those who have a desire to know you.
Your art tells you what you know about yourself at a given moment.

Beyond the physical gathering of objects, art collecting is a gathering together of personal experiences and meaningful life moments documented through images that tell a collector's personal story.

Our personal experiences and aspirations are the key drivers to collecting art. Anything can be collected, but that does not necessarily mean that the objects will have meaning, influence and purpose. A powerful collection of art must arise from the aligned perspective and spirit of the buyer, an artist and the time that they are living in.

The level of personal enlightenment and awareness that a collector brings to their life will influence the caliber of the artists and the depth of works they collect.

A collection is an accumulation of all things considered to be memorable, meaningful, masterful and extraordinary to a time, a place, a moment and/or a life.

Creating a collection is the process of finding and expressing one's inner voice.

Sacred Tribal Ritual

'Sacred Ancestral Birth'

© Lloyd Pollard 1994
8.5"x11"
pen & ink on paper
First published in this blog.
Previously unpublished and not exhibited.


Every moment that a child is born our ancestors cry out with unbridled joy and burst forth with tears of pride and passion.

They see within each child's birth the spirit of every woman and man that has ever walked upon the face of this earth.

Their exuberance is contagious to the living.

They give to each child their gifts of knowledge, love and wisdom. The child in turn now becomes all powerful and begins to share its world and destiny through the cultivation of its ancestral history and awareness. It now become all the things that we have ever been and have the potential to be.

All of this possibility is within each child at birth. A child who must give thanks to its elders and creators as it clams its rightful and prominent place within the history of man.

This is the legacy of our sacred ancestral birth.

Pollard - Sept 21, 1994

Collecting Art (Part 2 of 3)

What type of art should be collected and who should collect it? (Part 2 of 3)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so too is art. The categories of 'good' or 'bad', 'beautiful' or 'ugly' are insufficient to properly judge the true value of art. Art needs to be able to touch the interests of the individual via their body, spirit and/or mind. Any work that can touch one of these aspects of the viewer can be considered to be meaningful and worth acquiring. Any work that can touch all three aspects of simultaneously can be considered to be "sacred" or a masterpiece and worthy of greater interest and a corresponding higher financial value.

As we grow and mature the focus of our being continually fluctuates between the body, spirit and mind. The prevailing focus of one's life at any given time will be the catalyst that dictates your art taste at that moment. So, if you are at a spiritual stage in your life, you will seek people, objects and art that have a spiritual resonance and message for you. This will also be consistent with a physical and/or mental life focus therefore influencing the type of work you choose to collect.

A collector of art is anyone who owns more than one piece of art imagery (e.g. sculpture, photograph, painting. etc.) for the purpose of enjoyment and/or personal meaning, regardless of its format or price (i.e. original work, print, poster, cards, etc.). With this definition the seemingly exclusive and elite activity of art collecting is simplified to include as a participant, everyone within a community.

Essentially, the amount of money you have and the type of work you can afford should not be a barrier to participating in the process of art enjoyment and collecting. Art ownership at any level not only supports an artist but also the formation and maintenance of the cultural identity of a community. Art collected by a variety of community members makes the development and sustaining of culture a valuable societal activity.

So what you perceive art to be and the type of art you can afford to acquire should not be barriers to defining who can collect art and assist in the validation of a community's cultural identity.

Collecting Art (Part 1 of 3)

COLLECTING ART

Life is a mystery. A mystery that binds us with eternal questions such as: How did the universe begin? Why are we here? What is love? Who or what is God? To this list of life's seemingly unanswerable questions we can add one more that is equally as perplexing - What is art?

For this purpose of this essay I will define art simply as, any creative expression or object that 'feeds, awakens and inspires the human spirit'. It is essential to the balance and well-being of the human being. It is as valuable as the air we breathe. It is scared. It is life-affirming.

Noting this, one can ask the question, if art is so significant to our being, why is it that we spend so little of our time and attention enjoying and interacting with it?

The influence of art on our senses, thoughts and imagination cannot be overlooked. The enjoyment and preservation of art through a collection demands special attention.


Why must art be collected?

Art reflects how we feel about ourselves, physically, mentally and spiritually. It documents what we are currently experiencing, what we've experienced in the past and what our dreams are for the future.

Every community develops, in time, a unique identity that distinguishes it from its predecessor, while it lays a foundation of inspiration for the next generation. Maintenance of a cultural identity is one of the primary reasons we must collect the unique artifacts that define us.

To survive and thrive in our daily reality, we need the inspiration, reinforcement and support that art can provide. Art is an investment in ourselves, in our physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Our failure to identify the beauty, mystery, potential and distinctness of our art creations threatens to gamble away irresponsibly the aspiration, inspiration and dreams of future generations. If the children of tomorrow cannot look back and draw on our experiences and thoughts through art, then what value would our lives and experiences have been worth?

Art inevitably is not just about us living in the present - it is also about the future. This being the case, we must treasure and secure it as a gift for our children and their children.

So why must art be collected? Because we need it to share our stories, accomplishments and aspirations with future generations.

(End of Part 1 of 3)

Spiritual Community

Spiritual Community © Lloyd Pollard 1994
24"x18"
pastel on paper

First exhibited in 1995 solo show.
Burkes Picture Framing Gallery, Toronto.
First blog publication.


A community is a closely knit support oriented structure.

Spiritual Community visually depicts the physical and spiritual symbols from the Yoruba belief system that combine to form the ideal African based community.

Central to the image is the "God Tree" or "Spider Tree". This is the symbol around which the community attaches its history, soul and spiritual beliefs. In addition it represents the tree of knowledge.

Within each home is a symbol of the dual belief system that is carried by many African communities: the Christian cross and the bottle tree (acknowledgment of the world of spirits).

Beneath the ground are two royal pythons, symbols of wisdom, the "life-giver" and messengers of the gods.

The white spirit trees represent the ancestors who have passed yet remain an active presence and overseers to the community's future direction.


Lloyd Pollard . September 1994

Tribal Totem

Spirits of the Tribal Totem © Lloyd Pollard 1994
14"x18"
acrylic paint & marker on paper

First exhibited in 1995 solo show.
Burkes Picture Framing Gallery, Toronto.
First blog publication.
Limited Edition Print in Private Collection

Our individual tribes place their marks inside and
outside of each of us.

This mark is our pass into an exclusive company of traditions, rituals and beliefs
All of which provide us with the comfort, protection and knowledge of ourselves.

Spirits of the Tribal Totem bears the soul of the Great Mother,
Who eternally comforts and nurtures us throughout a lifetime.

It possesses the spirit of the Ancient Warrior,
Who screams "Death" to those who offend us, while protecting us in every experience.

Finally, Spirits of the Tribal Totem holds the essence of the sacred twin,
With their identical images reflecting and revealing their deeply buried inner knowledge of each other and therefore themselves.

A symbol of tribe should be a symbol of pride.

+ Pollard © 940921

Man & Woman

Man & Woman © Lloyd Pollard 2000
13"x22"
pen & ink on paper
Published by Our Image Greeting Cards.
First blog publication.
(Original in Private collection)

Dramatic dignity.
Primal beauty.
Ancient pride.
Silent love.

Eternal bond.
Noble presence.
Endless grace.
Silent love.

Divine desire.
Passionate bond.
Sacred unity.
Silent love.

Love of a regal kind.
Love of a royal mind.
A love refined and immortalized by a friendship sublime.
A woman. A man.

The Storyteller (Griot)

The Storyteller (Griot) © Lloyd Pollard c.1995
14"x18"
acrylic paint & marker on paper
First published in this blog.
Previously unpublished and not exhibited.
(Private collection)

Ancient knowledge carrier.
Ancient wisdom bearer.

The holder all stories.
A teller of all tales.
A seer beyond every moment.
A prophet in every age.

The maker of history.
A chronicler of births, lives and deaths.
The conjurer of gods, heroes and villains. The keeper. The conscience. The sustainer. The restorer and The healer.

lloyd pollard . October 13, 2008

Queen . Warrior . Goddess

© Lloyd Pollard 1995
11"x18"
acrylic & marker on paper
First exhibited in 1995 solo show.
Burkes Picture Framing Gallery, Toronto.

In my essence you will find things unseen
Things I have always been.
Since time has come about
I have defined mystery, men and life.
In my various personnas
You have loved me, worshipped me and died for me.

My dimensions are not one -
As are your needs more than one.
My dimensions are but a glimpse of me
A glimpse beyond which many cannot stand to see.
Do not separate yourself from me, for I am not beyond you
I stand beneath your heaviest burden and within your deepest hope.

As a Queen you have seen the shadow of my authority
As a Warrior you have felt the sting of my passion and
As a Goddess you have experienced the love of my destiny.

Look upon me with your being
The being that is beyond your body and beyond your mind.

Lloyd Pollard (1995)

Doodles

© Lloyd Pollard 2008



These images are the result of the eye and hand collaborating intuitively with little interference from the mind and conscious thought. They are generated from moments of relaxation and non-thought as meditation.

Windwalker

"Windwalker"

Whisper, whistle and howl,
Silent, fleeting and foul.

Unrelenting, graceful and kind,
Fierce, abstract and sublime.

Powerful, ancient and wise,
Healer and destroyer of lives.

A god without a chariot
A deity with all the sky,
A tempest with no desire
To manage our questions of why.

Why so weak?
Why so strong?
Why so transparent in your unpredictable and beautiful song?

A song of silence,
A song of screams,
A song of divinity and presence forever unseen.

Walk with the wind.

Whisper, whistle and howl,
Silent, fleeting and foul.
Unrelenting, graceful and kind,
Fierce, abstract and sublime.
Powerful, ancient and wise,
Healer and destroyer of lives.


© Lloyd Pollard 2008



*This image is the result of the eye and hand collaborating intuitively with little interference from the mind and conscious thought.

Photocuts: Loving Photography with a Swiss Army Knife

I really began to enjoy photography in a different way when I found the courage to physically "destroy" some of my favourite 8x10 black and white prints that I had made.

The process of selecting a quality negative and enlarging it for display was fun, but I felt that something was missing after viewing the developed image for a period of time. I felt that, although the image was saying a lot, there was something more it could say, more specifically, something more I wanted it to say. So, armed with a small Swiss army pocket knife and a solid dose of ignorance, I embarked on what has turned out to be another rewarding aspect of the photographic experience for me - the "photocuts".

Photocuts are simply prints cut into any number of potential shapes that create a new visual appearance that gives a viewer an additional element to consider when appreciating and experiencing an image.

By deconstructing the standard rectangular photographic format, I was able to vary and deepen the audience's viewing experience.

Ideally exposed or focused images were no longer critical to me when trying to create powerful and lasting images that tell a story. The reshaped/reinterpreted images began to tell new stories in a way that the photograph in its rectangular format had not been able to tell before.

In my opinion, photography has no rules, only individual preferences and I am thrilled to say that I have found for now, a new creative preference.

© Lloyd Pollard