THE GATE OF LIFE | Niki Butcher

Maitland Art and History Museum © 2016

Photographic Story I came across this scene at the Maitland Art and History Center. The words touched my heart and I thought you’d enjoy them too. In case the words are hard to read here on the Internet here they are:

I stood at the gate of life and said give me a light that I may go safely into the unknown and a voice replied go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God that will be to you better than a light and safer than a known way

The Art Center is a historic site and was funded by philanthropist Mary Curtis Bok. and designed by architect and artist J. Andre Smith in 1937 as an artist colony. It hosted many famous artists of the time. The Center is one of the few examples of Mayan Revival, also known as Fantasy Architecture in the southeast. For more information visit artandhistory.org The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Niki prints her images on fiber-base black and white mat surface paper in the darkroom, then using Q-tips and cotton balls, she applies a thin coat of oil paint over the surface allowing the image to gently be seen through the oil paint. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.