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Profile: Emilia Cleopas Jim Ratliff, owner of the James Ratliff Gallery in Sedona, always asks for what he needs in his business - be it a new artist or new clients. "Primarily it is the art that I'm looking for, and I have a failrly clear idea of the kind of art that I want. It always comes, whatever it is that I ask for." Jim says that he thought of, imagined, a type of very unusual artwork - colorful, figurative, unique. This was about 18 months ago. Recently, Emilia Cleopas showed up with her newest series of paintings, Ghimel. The thought accompanying his initial reaction was, "This isn't real." He saw and felt that the paintings were "so powerful, so magnetic." "I've seen a lot of art in my 30 some years in the gallery business and I have worked with so many artists, that I can just kind of tell when I see something that speaks od mastery, that speaks of genius. To recognize the genius comes from a very deep place, a place of recognition within - it is a deep cellular recognition." Right away Jim saw the genius in Emilia's paintings. Then he asked himself, as he always does, "I wonder how this will sell and how my patroins will accept this art." If he feels that his patrons will not accept the art, but still has the feeling of recognizing the genius, he decides, "I'll educate them to it." Jim feels that may be part of his work, of his journey, to concern himself with enriching people's lives with art and to serve as an educator for them to different expressions in art. "When I can help a patron get excited about a piece and they buy it, and the art changes their lives - that's what's meaningful to me. Even if a person does not buy a painting or piece of art - what matters is that the person interacts with the art and that it sparks something within themselves." This is a sampling of information excerpeted from a general explanatory overview of the Ghimel series of paintings, with some paraphrasing: "Ghimel represents movement; the vibration of the foundation of our world. Some know it as the fourth dimension - it is the four corners of the universe; it is structure, mathematics. Man has come into existense to learn how to love; to learn to understand and to go beyond his measure of understanding; to look within a flower and see the smallest detail of creation; to sharpen his perception by measuring himself between heaven and earth, for he is the beginning, the point of infinity." "We are all born with a talent, a gift, a treasure, a pearl within the oyster of life. Become one with your teachers, the Elohims. Within yur heart chakra the keys of life are held. Thirteen keys lie within your soul. You must clear your intent and come as an innocent vibration, acknowledging only oneness and not duality, for it is duality that creates 'evil'."
Of the 50 some paintings in the Ghimel series by Emilia Cleopas, The Storm King is most likely the first you would encounter in the James Ratliff Gallery. Jim says, "This one is unusual because she is working in oils on really heavy paper." "With Emilia's work, I don't offer someone what the explanation is according to her insightful interpreations unless somebody needs that. I usually guide the people whao are coming in to look at her work to see what they see. What they put into it is what their experiemces in life are." The artist feels very much the same way, as she says that in her paintings she provides an opportunity for the viewer's personal interpretation. Emilia explains in a descriptive writing that these paintings impress the viewer through the abstraction of thougt which is comprehended directly by the central cortex of the brain. They are lessons, agteways, for an individual to go within; teaching not to go outside to find what they are looking for. "Look beyond the duality of good and evil; look at the light - it will disintegrate the illusions which seperate you from your higher self," is the message. "When I am doing my work, it is like being in the middle of a conversation with heaven and earth. All I do is interpret the energy which I observe through my psyche and I open myself up to all the members that creation has. It is my search to find my soul within this vast existence; it is an expression of feelings and emotions, of beauty, of joy." "The symbology in my paintings comes from all the races - all races of the planet and all those which are in galactic existence. I am an interpreter, a computer tuned into all information of dogma; all information of voices and the echoes of this galaxy. What I am doing with my artistic creativity is making a quilt, a collective expression." Quilt is an apt metaphor for Emilia's paintings, as they show a vast amount of teachings, ancient knowledge, contemporary emotions and countless other enigmas pieced together in bright, powerful, thought provoking statements which are immensely decorative as well. "My paintings consist of everything - all that is and ever will be - the untimate mind of the Creator; expressions of the face of God. They come from enlightenment; they are painted on a very high level. I do not see the artwork visually, the names and information come to me through the artwork. I am an interpreter of a divine creative force which enlightens me, and I am humbled to be the voice of this creative source," Jim Ratliff comments, "In Sedona a lot of visitors are in such a rush, and I want to say to them, 'Slow down and smell the flowers.' The kind of art that I sell is the kind you have to stop and look and feel it; converse with it, smile with it, frown with it; even be afraid of it." Jim says that sometimes a person will be afraid of a ceratin painting, and he feels that is because there is something that the person has not dealt with within themselves. "We have to deal with the duality in life so we can embrace it and go with our mission in life. So many people are caught up in the humdrum that they havn't done that yet. Perhaps art assists the looking within process" "Emilia's art is the kind that makes us see the rain and see the sunshine and what it is all about." "People are led here to Sedona, and they need to look at it - the beauty of the rocks, the redness; to embrace the color and beauty and explore the scenery and feel it. Sedona is so perfect for the arts - the enrgy is right. People may not stay long here - they learn what they have to learn and go on. It is the job of others who live here to bring the messages to them" Jim has been here 17 years and has seen a lot of gallery people come and go. He makes a general commentary: "The people who bring negativity - Sedona spits them out. Unless they are true to the spirit of Sedona, they do not stay. Those who come here to serve and give are rewarded." The paintings of Emilia Cleopas are rich in expressions of ancient imagery and symbols. There is a passage in the chapter, The Game, the codes and the Master Numbers in Earth, a book by Barbara Marciniak which appears to be akin to the symbology in Emilia's paintings: "We can be thought of as treasure hunters along the corridors of time, playing the game [of seeking]... The codes and master numbers we seek are geometrica formulas and combinations of intelligence stored within the human. The human, of cource, is an integral part of the design for the Living Library. Each creation in the Living Library had its purpose and has a great amount of data stored in it."
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