Carol Levy

Painting

I have three strong passions in my life: my visual art practice, my Dharma practice and my teaching practice. Over the years I have come to accept that these practices are one in the same. In all, I am doing the best I can to be present, paying attention to what is, sharing myself, working at letting go of concepts and ideas, and experiencing the unfolding and simple truth of the ebb and flow which I often refer to as the “dance of life.”  

As a visual artist, I have found that my creative process is a search.  Here I am facing the moment-to-moment struggle of making decisions and asking myself where am I going?  I am continuously working with the delicate balances that appear between definition and abstraction, control and freedom, and conflict and resolution. This search takes me to unknown places, which bring me insights and connect me to a deeper truth. 

For forty years, my Dharma practice has completely informed my life. Each and every moment is Practice, blending together in continual movement like the elements, which appear in my artwork. 

I am passionate about teaching. Seeing my students embrace their new abilities to experience their visual world through drawing and painting gives me great joy and appreciation.  As a teacher, I am given the opportunity to share my experience as an artist, fellow human being, and seeker.  

Underlying my Art, Dharma and Teaching practices is a strong desire to be authentic and present for my life, to share it with others and to touch into that which is unknown and unknowable: The Mysteries. 

I find myself in uncharted waters, where there is equanimity and there is fear and doubt, but I continue my journey with an inner light that I have come to accept. As in my artwork, there is no place where the water ends and the sky begins.

Carol A. Levy lives in San Rafael, California and works in her art studio there. She teaches drawing and painting at City College of San Francisco.

More on Carol Levy's work can be found on our Links page.