A number of years ago, as a young artist working in Paris, I found myself yearning for a glimpse of the spiritual reality underlying art. Isolating color, line, and form, the three primary elements of visual expression, I felt I should understand their spiritual nature. Referring to "form, color, quality, and quantity," Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy says, "Their spiritual nature is discerned only through the spiritual senses." Science and Health, p. 512. Accordingly, I began to look to God, Spirit, to take my first small steps in grasping their infinite nature and profound significance.
Of the three elements, line was the one that intrigued me the most. I was in awe of the incredible purity of linear expression in, for example, the paintings of Botticelli and the drawings of artists like Rembrandt and Matisse. And I asked God to show me what I would need to perceive about the idea of line that would enable me to express it in a unique way, but with those same qualities of continuity, resolution, and purity.
It wasn't long before I had my answer. The mental line-element I had so earnestly been seeking was the firmament, the idea of spiritual understanding that is central to the practice of Christian Science. And the purer linear expression that gradually developed in my art was simply the natural result of exercising this understanding in daily life.
