My first spirals were the amazing tongues of chameleons and my first horsies the large backs of land tortoises. Across the hill, the "Palace of the Queen" clearly was an enchanted faery castle. In the garden, a native palm tree would fan its leaves like a gigantic offering to Heaven. And all over the land, banana trees would offer succulent lollipops, while the local "zuma" market displayed fabulous piles of foods, fabrics and life in all colors... Such tempting toys to touch, smell and taste... that little Aya got nicknamed "Doigt Devant" ("Finger Forward"). A land and a time where all senses were woven together in a magical synaesthesia of Beauty...

But, in the countryside, crocodiles would bring an uneasy thrill and, on the sea side, sharks would lurk outside the swimming parks. Life definitely had many faces!
A happy childhood -stocking up on tropical memories. A caring family -providing love and safety.

Back in Paris, France, the first school experience came on the breeze of playfulness: attending a Montessori school, I delighted in exploring shapes, colors, textures and their endless & magical combinations. What beats weaving patterns of colorful ribbons, when one is attending school ?

As a teen in Aix-en-Provence (South of France), I would go once a week to my piano and art lessons, thus learning the basics of standard musical & visual arts... But, later on, in my high-school and Paris student years, there was no more time to spend (waste ?) on art: the focus, instead, was on following serious socio-cultural tracks: classical humanities, human & political "sciences", oriental languages... "The more mind, the better" was becoming the tacit credo of my growing ego, deluded in believing what I was "taught". Destiny was escaping me...

Those were long and colorless years. The only rose windows were flights into poetry and escapades into the faery-lands of young romance.

Explorations into Artistic Creativity: My first real artistic activation occurred in Singapore, where I was working at my first (and last) "career job": Assistant to the Cultural Attache at the French Embassy. After many years of arduous student life, I was at last provided with financial security plus free time and was thus able to open the doors of my creativity. This translated into a series of vividly colored works in various media and culminated in a group exhibit at the French Cultural Center. I realized then that maybe I was an "artist", whereas my academic studies and official career made me a "foreign service agent". At work, I would feel stripped of my basic freedom of speech and life-style, a mere puppet. At home, I would have feasts of writing, drawing and coloring...

The tension grew within my being until, finally, I decided to quit my "career" in order to pursue a life journey dedicated to the spirit of my Self and the spirit of my Art. Destiny was coming closer and beckoning benevolently...

A year of free wandering followed: India, Nepal, Afghanistan... all the way back to France where I felt like a complete stranger, unwilling to go back to the prison of a professional job and longing, instead, to explore the new budding worlds I felt inside.

At any point of honestly looking at Who we really are, life is like starting anew, calling forth unsuspected wonder, joy and energy... Right ?

Eventually ending up in Soho, New York, I was thrilled there to explore the many free materials I would find at the doors of small factories. No specific art style yet, just a wild adventure into who I was as an artist... and a process of "sculpting my way through space" that stripped away outer layers of ego and culture...

I was then ready to answer the call of another Mother: California. Moving to the Bay area, I finally stopped resisting my strong attraction for the spiritual and sacred arts, while still pursuing my personal creations. Recovering spiritual horizons lost since late childhood, the Seeker was home again and rapidly expanding beyond body and personality. Destiny was smiling again, widely...

Over the next few years, I sought the union of Spirit , Art and Culture -sitting and dancing with many teachers. Traveling back and forth between the US and Europe, I became an ambassador of new global ways, grounded in peace and respect for Life...

Mandalas, as tools for meditation, were certainly pointing to the direction of Oneness. But it was not enough for me to know of the sacred art ways of established traditions: I certainly was not inspired to just duplicate them. What I wanted was to keep and honor their spirit while re-creating new forms, colors and symbols that would speak to the people in this contemporary global culture. And so, I just set about deepening my spiritual perception... all the while playing with my compass, markers and grid paper...

The StarWheel Journey: In 1985, I was settled in Santa Monica canyon when the StarWheel Vision came. It was in response to a spirit quest and completely focused me on birthing the StarWheel babies... starting a Family...

 

 Kindly click on the StarWheel Vision page to read about its various descriptions & extensions:
The StarWheel Manifesto
You the Ultimate Mandala
My Present from Spirit (The StarWheel Creation Process)
Two Job Requirements (Walking the Radiance)
Who We Are (The StarWheels as Mirrors of Self)
From Inside Out (The StarWheels as Holographic Fields)
Interacting with Inner Vision (The StarWheels as Yoga of Perception)
Dimensional Doorways (The StarWheels as Stargates)
The New Global Civilization (Being an Artist in the 21st Century)
Sacred Traditions (The Revival of Sacred Arts)

 

At the rate of one painting per two months (this is, of course, an average over many years) and in various locations (ranging from California to New Mexico to Colorado to Arizona), successive series of twelve StarWheel mandala paintings have been created:

 

            Series I         1985-1986    Santa Monica, CA
             Series II        1987-1988    Santa Monica, CA
             Series III       1989-1990    Santa Monica, CA 

      Series IV       1991-1992    Santa Fe, NM

      Series V        1993-1994    Santa Fe, NM
      Series VI       1995-1996    Ridgway, CO

   Series VII      1987-1998    Sedona, AZ

    Series VIII     1999-2000    Sedona, AZ
    Series IX       2001-2004    Sedona, AZ
    Series  X        2005-....        Sedona, AZ

 \(Kindly click on the StarDome page and the Doing the Dream link in the Earth Mandala page).  

 

I believe Perfection is evolving its sacred ways through the current personal & global adventures.
At this time, it is essential to focus ever deeper inside and to keep learning our soul lessons about:
- Co-creating a new global reality of Light for the next generations... The Earth Paradise re-entered...
- Choosing thoughts & beliefs of spirit empowerment, hopeful solutions and heart kindness.
- Manifesting emotions & behaviors from conscious thoughts.
- Follow our spiritual bliss as beings of light & love.

 

AYA