Shiloh Sophia McCloud

I am called, the Minister of Sacred Arts or the Art Doctor, or Chief
Laughing Cloud

BIO:

Shiloh Sophia McCloud – Visionary Artist Teacher and Publisher.
I am also called, the Minister of Sacred Arts or the Art Doctor, or Chief
Laughing cloud

Shiloh Sophia McCloud has dedicated the past sixteen years of her life to
the study and practice of art as a spiritual discipline as well as to
helping equip women with the tools and understanding to develop their own
creative potential.

Shiloh’s artwork is committed to providing healing images and teachings
about women and family. Shiloh lives and teaches a philosophy that all art
forms are tools for individual, social and spiritual transformation.
Thousands of women have deepened in their creative practice through
Shiloh’s illustrated Color of Woman journals and her workshops.

Shiloh is the founder of Cosmic Cowgirls Ink LLC, a woman and girl owned
publishing company that produces collaborative tools for transformation.
Shiloh’s paintings are internationally collected and her product line is
represented at galleries and fine shops throughout the Unites States.

http://www.cosmiccowgirls.com

Shiloh teaches at several colleges throughout the Bay Area in California,
as well as in her own classroom. The focus of her teachings is intentional
creativity and visionary life work.

“The work of a woman visionary is to the know the past, dream the future,
and take powerful action in the present.”

http://www.shilohsophia.com

A little more info…

I encourage all women to be creative and reminding us that every bone in
our body is a creative bone.

I work with women who have not painted sometimes in 40 years – and have
felt repressed all that time. Through accessing her own internal wisdom
regarding her creative self, healing occurs.

I believe that it is through our creativity that we are able to unviel the
self that we most wish to be and the gifts that accompany that self.
Creativity gives VOICE to the soul. And so…I put my energy into inviting
women to create.

As a full time artist and teacher everything I create is a prayer for our
possibility. I have been representing the work of women artists in prime
retail locations for over ten years – as well as publishing the word and
images of women authors and illustrators.

I also create Rights of Passage experiences with young girls that include
painting, journaling and ritual making.

Through our publishing company, Cosmic Cowgirls Ink, LLC we work to create
a venue, platform and community in which women have an opportunity to
share their work. Our books and cards are represented
in venues across the United States and Canada.

I am passionate about giving voice to the work of women and girls. In my
lifetime I am committed to working together with others to change the way
women and girls are viewed in the media. One of the ways I do that is to
publish alternative media so that there are options for us to choose that
represent more of who we experience ourselves to be. I am also VERY
passionate about the practice of intentional creativity and making that
available to others.

Confessions of a Punk Rock Princess when asked about her art experience
and resume:

“I am rebel. And a woman in process. So all of my projects, from my books
and paintings to my resume are rebellious works of love and outrageousness
in process. One of my gifts is that I am not a perfectionist. I don’t try
to get it right. I just share what I have and I hope it reaches someone in
a way that they need to be met. I don’t fit into fill in the blank spaces,
and most folks don’t. When we try, we end up looking and feeling crunched.
I did not have traditional art training and I had to leave art college to
save my own creativity from the depths of conformity. So when folks ask
where I got my training, I just say, my family. Because I did. My mom
taught me, encouraged me, to be as different and unique as I felt like
being. I stopped trying to fit in at about age 14, and not a moment too
soon. I was done with all that. I became a punk rocker without the anger.
And I was proud of it. But how can you put punk rock princess on your
resume? Where is the space for writing, ‘I have been drawing all my life’
on a resume? Or, ‘I am the one my friends turn to when they are in need’
or ‘I am inventing my own legend’ or ‘I have written 100 poems”.

To learn more about me: http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com/about_shilohmccloud.html

To learn more about my views on sacred art, continue on down the page! To see my collection of sacred art and paintings, please visit:

http://www.shilohsophia.com

Passionate Soul © 2008

SACRED ART Statement

Shiloh Sophia McCloud

I believe that art is a Spiritual Practice.
I believe that art is a Path of Healing.

I am an artist who performs my work as a Spiritual Practice. I think of my paintings, which I call Sacred Art, as: Prayers for the world; Offerings of love and hope and rest; Alignment with wellness and beauty; Devotions of gratitude and praise to the Divine; A most delicious outpouring of my soul.

Everything I create is rooted in my desire to ease the suffering of the world. Some of us serve in soup kitchens. Some of us are marching. Some hold the hands of the dying. Some of us teach. Some fight. Some pray. And some of us, create art.

Artists touch the suffering through our creations. Some say that art is not as important as other works, and that to paint or sing or write a poem is not of the same worth as planting and digging carrots or volunteering at the (fill in the blank). But I believe that when the artist is committed to art as a form of service and devotion, it is as important as any and every other form of service and devotion.

I am not speaking of all art. I am speaking of Sacred Art. Art specifically and consciously committed to revelation, to inspiring healing and wholeness. Art—like a hearty soup cooked with love, a garden planted and tended with care, a song that raises one’s spirit—art that is intended to lift the soul of humanity. Art in which we FEEL the soul of the work, speaking to us. This, I call Sacred Art.

I began creating Sacred Art over thirteen years ago. I had one of those mountain top experiences in Northern California. My heart had belonged to Jesus since I was a kid, but as a young adult, I felt that I desperately needed to speak with my Mother—my Divine Mother. Although I am not sure if I even knew there was one at that time, my earthly mother recently recalled to me that when I was a child, I had asked if Jesus came from a broken home. She said I wanted to know where his mom was since people always talked about his father, but not his mommie.

Some might call my mountain top encounter an awakening. Surely it was, for it was when the Mother, in the form of Mary, revealed herself to me that I truly became me. I was twenty-two at the time and had been seeking my art form for some years, but with very little fruit. As a result of becoming me, my art also became. It is no surprise that the very first art I created that I KNEW was my life work was a Madonna and Child.

My call to create rang out from the heart of the Divine and I answered, YES!! I have not ceased to create since that time. This work is informed by something that is always challenging to put into words. Before I did not know what to create, and for whom, so my work lacked vitality and originality. But with the coming of the Mother Mary—my precious Mary Ma—came information about the suffering of the world. With that, came responsibility. I knew of the suffering and tragedy, but I had been removed from it. It was “out there,” not “in here.” It was as if parts of my heart had been veiled and had suddenly became illuminated. I had access to more of my feeling, my seeing, my loving. I also felt profound agonizing emotional pain.

This awakening was one of the most mystical experiences of my life—almost a third “birthing.” First was entering the world, second was connecting with Jesus Christ, and third was this awareness of my Divine Mother, her relationship to her children, and my call to art. I prayed to her about what I was supposed to do about all of this newfound pain. Art was her answer. In order to contribute to the healing of our world I was to create, and teach others to create. I have not stopped since!!!

As soon as I began to paint, the pain transitioned into knowledge, and knowledge transitioned into wisdom, and wisdom informed not only painting, but teaching. Clearly, my gift was to be, not only the product of painting, but the sharing and teaching of the process, and to prosper the work itself.

With the love, encouragement, and support of my life long mentor, Sue Sellars, my beloved husband, Isaiah, and my wise mother, Caron, my career was launched. I had my first art show exactly one and a half years later. I sold everything. I went to seminary in Boulder Colorado to become a Reverend in the mystical Church of Grace of Sophia. Through my training there, the depth and breadth of my artwork as my ministry blossomed. I had ongoing shows at local cafes and galleries, and I published my first journal book, Color of Woman, at the downtown Kinkos.

Now, twelve years later, I have consistently made a living through my sacred practice of creating and teaching art. With the continuing help and support of my family, I opened a gallery about ten years ago. I began having workshops and events designed to raise awareness around important issues. For example, we worked with Parsa, to connect with women artists in Afghanistan (pre-9-11) to create prayer shawls for women in our community. We educated people regarding these women and the conditions under which they lived and labored. They risked their lives to create those shawls for us. Their work arrived that November following 9-11.

Many of my works reflect family, friendship, lovers, healing, possibility and moments of joy, and many of she who inspires the work—the Madonna, Our Lady, in her many manifestations. She nurses her child, she hears our prayers, she creates miracles, she heals our hearts. My delight in painting her is beyond belief. I experience hours of what can only be called bliss as I paint and pray.

Besides my gallery, Wisdom House, in Mendocino, I teach at New College of California in San Francisco. I conduct a women’s ministry called Holy Council of Women (Holy Cow) in Oakland, California. I teach workshops for women in visionary business all over the Bay Area. I have founded a woman and girl owned publishing company, Cosmic Cowgirls Ink, LLC, that publishes art, books and journals by and for women and girls.

I believe that all of us are creative beings with stories to tell and gifts to share. Art may be a natural talent, coming more easily to some than others, but I now know that it can be learned. Trying to make images look like like something that already exists is what thwarts our efforts. If we invent from the soul, with our focus on the good, what comes out will be true and original. It cannot not be so. I have taught hundreds of women to paint who did not think that they could. But they did! And they loved it! And they learned that art can be a sacred practice.