March 2016 |
Veriditas recently had the honor to host Argentinian artist, Mauricio Martinez at a private art reception at the home of Veriditas Founder Lauren Artress. This was followed by a reception and artist's talk at the Veriditas Urban Pilgrimage held at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in February, 2016.
Veriditas became acquainted with Maruicio when a group of the Board and staff went to La Falda, Argentina to construct a Legacy Labyrinth that was purchased by Kristin and Enrique Dura. Mauricio was introduced to labyrinths prior to our group's arrival and found he was taken with the labyrinth as an ancient symbol and began painting labyrinths. This has developed into a spiritual body of work that depicts the labyrinth as a mystical bridge between the worlds. His work is stunning. Made according to traditional techniques of oil painting, the paintings take you into another world of labyrinths, temples and forgotten places. There are hooded figures in motion, dancing or walking on the path that leads to liberation.
Thanks to the Dura's, Mauricio came to the United States and was able to share his work with the Veriditas community.
| We will soon be selling some of his extraordinary mystical labyrinths on canvas online. A percentage of the sales goes to support Veriditas. Email us to be notified when his paintings are available.  Left to right: Enrique and Kristin Dura, Dawn Matheny and Milton Woolley, Larry and Chris Katzenmeyer and Kathe Rhinesmith. |
When did you first encounter the labyrinth?My husband, Larry, was diagnosed with cancer and we were both nervous wrecks. A friend of mine said to my husband “Why don’t you walk a labyrinth?” And he said “What’s a labyrinth?” So he found one in a church in our neighborhood and he walked it. At that point he was the most unlikely labyrinth walker. But he found something important there for himself; he found some peace. He asked me if I wanted to do it and I said yes. It was so perfect. Flash forward – we kept walking labyrinths and we calmed down. He had treatments and then went into remission. We were very grateful and decided that we wanted to give service to the labyrinth in some way. So that was the beginning of our labyrinth journey. From there how did you get involved with Veriditas?We joined the church that had the labyrinth we liked walking so much. They had a person who was presenting the labyrinth but she was really busy and the labyrinth was way down on her list of priorities. She asked Larry if he wanted to guide walks there. He ended up going to Texas to take the Veriditas facilitator training. He started his labyrinth ministry at the church and then I got involved. He was totally fine just doing it at the church. But I was feeling the broader potential of the labyrinth in the world. I was very moved and stirred to look a little deeper into the applications internationally. That’s when I took facilitator training with Lauren. And then we went to Chartres. My feeling about walking the Labyrinth is the second I step onto a labyrinth I am stepping into the Divine. And when I step into the Divine I just listen and I experience and I know that’s true for most people who walk the labyrinth whether it’s in Chartres or wherever. When you step onto the labyrinth you are stepping into the Divine. I want that for everybody. Will you tell us about the Legacy Labyrinth Project at Veriditas?While we were in Chartres I was asked to consider being on the Board. Being on the Board deepened the need, the desire I felt to really connect the labyrinth internationally. That desire was sitting inside me for nearly five years while I was on the Board. And then the Legacy Labyrinth project came forward. When I was in Chartres, being with people from all over the world, the international implications were just shouting loudly on the inside. Somehow, someway, the labyrinth just had to be in many more places because of the light coming through it. I was at a Board meeting and Dawn was talking about fundraising and I had a dream or a daydream, something inside that had been there came forward and spoke to me. “Oh my gosh. What if we built labyrinths all over the world and connected them through intention. And bring peace and light to the world”. Could we do that and could we do that as a fundraiser? We have the best of the best of the best in Veriditas. We’ve got the best designers, we’ve got Lauren, we’ve got skills, and we’ve got a dedicated Board. What if we put all of that together into something really great? So that’s how it started. |
The first Legacy Labyrinth is in Argentina and was offered through the annual Veriditas auction. The Legacy Labyrinth Project is about the intention for peace and light in the world and all of these labyrinths are connected. We connect them through intention, we connect them through ritual and we connect them through actual physical objects. The second Legacy Labyrinth, which is in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, has blocks from Argentina built into it. And there’s sand from the Jacksonville Beach Legacy Labyrinth in the Argentina Legacy Labyrinth. The third Legacy Labyrinth, at Ohio Wesleyan College, has sand from the Jacksonville Beach labyrinth and stones from the Argentina labyrinth built into that labyrinth as well. So each Legacy Labyrinth moving forward will have a piece of the physical objects of the other labyrinths, as well as an annual ritual and dedication/intention. The dedication/intention is Lauren saying a dedication for that labyrinth, which actually intends that this new labyrinth is definitely connected with and a part of the others. Our intention, and one of our long term goals at Veriditas, is to have a least one Legacy Labyrinth on each continent on the planet so that they can all connect. For example, every time someone steps on the Legacy labyrinth in Argentina they are also walking for the people of Florida. And on and on. This is a very powerful thing. One of our Legacy Labyrinth people calls it a lineage. Why are you a Sustaining Giver to Veriditas?When you give service to something, you are giving an energy to that. If you believe, like I do, that the labyrinth is here to serve humanity, then giving money to an organization that serves humanity in that way is the perfect way to do that. That is the big view. Sustaining Giving is important to me because I understand non-profits well, because I run one. Non-profits need donations. If I can give monthly, I feel like over each month something good is happening. It also gives a predictable financial foundation each month. Non-profits doing good work in the world need donations and they are grateful for those donations. When an organization is grateful for what you give them it’s a win-win for everyone. Sustaining Giving is easy. You set an amount and send in a check each month or you can have it deducted from your credit card. It’s easy. And it’s tax deductible. I think that many people don’t have a large amount of money to give these days at one time. So Sustaining Giving gives them a way to be financially supportive. |
Any purchase from Veriditas this spring will get Free shipping just enter word Veriditas in coupon space on checkout.We are very excited to announce that we will be moving our website over to a mobile friendly template during the month of April. Together with this change, we will be making the website cleaner and more user-friendly. Parts of the website will be temporarily unavailable during the transition as we roll out the new template. We anticipate that the process will take around 10 days to complete - please "pardon our dust" during this transition. We invite you to call the office (707-283-0373) or email us if you need help while the website is undergoing its transformation. |
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