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Interior Castles Jessica Ziakin Cook

Thu. November 10th 2016 - Sat. November 26th 2016
the fifty fifty arts collective By Donation (All Ages)
Monday 10:00am-1:00pm Wednesday 1:00pm-6:00pm / Thursday 10:00am-1:00pm / Saturday 12:00pm-3:00pm/ Sunday 9:00am-12:00pm
Opening Reception: November 10, 7PM - 10PM
Show runs: November 10 - November 26th
Visit thefiftyfifty.net for gallery hours.

“I began to think of the soul as if it were a castle made of a single diamond of very clear crystals in which there are many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions.” [1]
Theresa of Avila, Interior Castles,1577

""Like Teresa writing in the Castilian vernacular in her cell, my artistic discipline is an outgrowth of my contemplative practice. My paintings are idiosyncratically devotional. They are the residue of a contemporary contemplative exercise; products of a process-oriented activity. I trace over the walls and doorways of Medieval rooms to re-inhabit these imaginary spaces that were so carefully prepared for the occurrence of the miraculous.

Theresa says, “In speaking of the soul we must always think of it as spacious, ample and lofty; and this can be done without the least exaggeration, for the soul’s capacity is much greater than we can realize.” She says it to think of it “as comprising not just a few rooms, but millions.” [1] Her conception of the soul as an unimaginably vast structure inspired me to make work that challenges my sense of the possible by welcoming complexity into my construction of space."

J. Z. Cook studied contemporary art & criticism and earned a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Vancouver Island School of Art in 2015, and has BA in History in Art from the University of Victoria. She is a member of St. Barnabas Anglo-Catholic Church where she serves on Parish Council and works as the administrator. She and her husband have two small children.