Morning Prayer

Kneeling, legs shifted
to one side - she
bows closer to her world.

Painter submerged in ceremony.
Deaf to the song of her wrist

guiding bamboo brush over
white rice paper.

Tailoring Western cities
with strict Korean strokes


she wrings life from them
until they weep, then
steals them with her brush.


--Jennifer Faulkner

ARTIST STATEMENT

I see my artwork as akin to music, poetry, and dance because my brush strokes tell a story in rhythm through time and space. I am, in a sense, a performance artist, especially as Asian water-ink requires great spontaneity and energy. This spontaneity is an expression of what the Daoists call wu wei, which means "going along with the nature of things." My subjects range from the organic to the abstract—from reflections on nature to my innermost thoughts as I listen to music. The empty spaces in my paintings lend strength to the content and give viewers an opportunity to exercise their artistic imagination.