This is an interview that Michael Corbin did with me several months ago. It made me think more deeply about what I do and why. ________________________________________ SHARON BARFOOT:BORN INSPIRED “I am not totally comfortable calling myself an artist even now, after 30 years of being involved in the arts. I paint. That is my voice. It is how I make connections. If someone chooses to call what I do, art, then my voice has been heard…” Sharon Barfoot is a totally cool artist who lives in Ontario, Canada. I love her work www.sharonbarfoot.com and I had a great chat with her about art and life. Her thoughts and words come from such a peaceful, well-informed place. Read on and see what I mean … MICHAEL: Hi Sharon, Your abstracts are very cool. They're very natural and elegant. It looks like you're inspired mostly by nature. Is that true? SHARON: Thank you for your comment and invitation to chat with you. Am I inspired by nature? That implies a separation to me. We often

Art is a discipline of internal movement. It is the subtle and delicate practice of following the creative impulse: that intangible, nonverbal dynamic that simultaneously connects us with our most authentic selves and the Oneness of all Creation. Truth lives and breathes in the creative process. When we attempt to control truth or define it in a fixed manner, it slips away from us. Truth instead merges with the diversity and mutability of life and creation. Through artistic discipline, we attune to truth’s fluidity and vitality. Art asks us to courageously open ourselves to whatever wishes to come into being in the moment. Art is not about making what we want come into existence; rather, art is about inviting truth to guide us. It is a matter of being humble and responsive to what the Unity of Creation wishes to manifest in each moment of creative communion.

Opening April 2, 2012 at the Bruce County Museum, Pushing Colour, the recent work of Sharon Barfoot and Susan Seitz. Meet the artists reception April 14 from 2pm to 4pm