Elizabeth Ivy Hawkins

"Skilled storyteller who can thoughtfully craft narratives, boil down complex concepts into succinct communication across multiple media channels. Relationship builder and experienced development strategist leveraging creative and strategic collaborations that stand out in a noisy world.”

I started The #SafeSpacePainting Project when I realized my child was having panic attacks, and we didn’t know why. I remember feeling helpless. I wanted more than anything to make a safe space for her. What I had yet to learn was that this theme, this idea of a Safe Space had been showing up in my work for years. Always red. Always form. Always nestled within the space of abstraction. When things repeat themselves, I’ve learned to pay attention. And this detail is no different. Safe Space is something artists have been writing about and searching for as long as there have been melodies that spin words together, or images scribed with earthy charcoal, or crayons grabbed from waxy boxes forming scribbled worlds before spoken language emerges. I read this today from @allyfallon. It’s a definition of grace, and she defines it as two things: The ability to endure the unendurable, and making space to receive new blessings. Making Space. That’s the job. For my daughter, for me, for all of us. Paintings are really grace poems. Longing wrapped in texture, color, and form. I am not certain about many things, but I do know that we are the perfect mix of dust, and mind, and spirit. And grace, just like surrender, is found in a small, still, red room.

 
 

Follow Along on Instagram