Guest Art: God the Mother

Guest art by Lauren Walke, an illustrator living amongst the folklore and trees of Appalachia. She creates art based on ritual, stories, and the aspects that call (loudly) to her. More information on her and her work can be found at 9sirenscreative.com.

I took an honest and deep look at Heavenly Mother. I read of Her varied histories and the rituals related to her to better capture her essence in this art. I sought to know and form a relationship with Her, something that had been discouraged in the past. From that seeking I more clearly saw myself in her image and found a broader version of truth. I began to know a maternal figure who was great, compassionate, and glorious.

Intensive research and study gave way to an understanding that would build the foundation of these pieces. Letting the new information settle, intuition and inspiration lead the creation process organically and breathed life into the pieces. My goal through this process was to allow Wisdom Herself to manifest authentically so that I could capture a more tangible representation that embodied Her essence. Through these pieces I shed the idealized and false version of motherhood as a role of domesticity and servitude, often used to represent women as a whole as well as Heavenly Mother. Instead, I worked to uncover and reclaim truer characteristics of the Feminine Divine. I chose to do this by depicting God the Mother’s active relationships with her children in acts of working, comforting, seeing, growing, inviting, teaching, awakening. Layering symbols and truth from the Bible, temple ritual, Mormon history, mythology, and art history to create a rich experience for viewers to find their own meaning and connection. These pieces reclaim a Deity previously shrouded and kept in obscurity. They denounce the idea of Her needing protection from our minds, hearts, voices and instead show Her realistically, powerfully. These portraits are an invitation for others to seek and find their own autonomy and truth through the divinity and wisdom of God the Mother.

This mixed media tryptic was featured in the Certain Women Art Show 2021 at Anthony’s Fine Art in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This post is part of a series, Contemplating Heavenly Mother. Find more from this series here.