Walking Under an Infinite Sky

The artists Patricia Watwood and Stefan Hagen began a collaboration toward a goal they found they shared: the search for spiritual insight and the expression of the spirit in their work. Watwood is a classically trained painter and draftsmen known for her nudes and portraits, while Hagen photographs landscapes with a technique using long exposures that capture both time and the experience of moving through nature.

Without a specific direction in mind, they shared poems and fragments of texts, thoughts and insights, photos, drawings and source materials, and developed new artworks from these exchanges. Out of these, an underlying theme evolved: the fundamental act of seeking for understanding and how we tap into the profound and sacred energies that underlie our daily lives. A pilgrimage began.

Hagen’s photographs capture the visual story of a series of walks, with Hagen as the artist, and Watwood as the pilgrim. Later, Watwood adds her own imagery in drawings or watercolors, adding animals, birds and other touches to convey the sense of things beyond the visual experience.

Ultimately to be compiled as an artists book, the complete set of images creates a narrative that tells of one pilgrim’s journey into the natural world in search of quiet, attentiveness, beauty and the sacred. Over various seasons, and in different geographies the pilgrim travels by foot, searching for a path of enlightenment and transcendence.