Resonant Signs: Secret Places, Sacred Spaces
Project Description — Resonant Signs: Secret Places, Sacred Spaces
Resonant Signs: Secret Places, Sacred Spaces is a 24-part body of work comprised of twelve paintings and twelve accompanying photographs that document the shifts and transformations of the American Midwest landscape in the face of climate change. This work was inspired by medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), a German Benedictine abbess, composer, healer, and visionary, whose pioneering writings explored the interconnectedness of spirituality, nature, medicine, and the cosmos.
The paintings illuminate the loss and alteration of sacred spaces for both humans and wildlife, drawing attention to the fragile ecological relationships that sustain life. Informed by the region’s seasonal landscapes, each painting corresponds to a month of the year, with palettes primarily developed through research and experimentation with botanical materials, including flowers, fruits, mushrooms, roots, seeds, and other naturally derived colorants. As the body of work developed, the palettes, which once started as watercolor, began to incorporate the use of historical methods and materials. The resulting works serve as material records of place and time, capturing the interdependence of seasonal cycles, ecological change, and cultural memory while inviting reflection on what is lost, transformed, and preserved. As our relationship with the natural world evolves, it is shaped by the ecological relationships and seasonal transformations of the landscape from which their colors emerge. In this practice, nature is not simply a subject to be represented but an active participant in the making of the work.
Plants carry histories of cultivation, migration, medicine, and cultural exchange. Their chemical properties, growing conditions, and changing colors influence the possibilities of artistic expression. The process of cultivating, foraging, extracting, and transforming these materials requires sustained attention to the living systems upon which artistic production depends. For the past 30 years, Schechter has used the same sustained attention in her painting practice as in her Buddhist practice. She first felt this resonance when she was introduced to Hildegard of Bingen’s work which reminds Schechter of the Buddhist Sutra’s of the Theravada and Mayhana traditions.
Through this relationship with materials, she investigates how ecological knowledge and cosmological understandings of the sacred might inform contemporary ways of seeing and inhabiting the world. The paintings invite contemplation of the more-than-human world, encouraging viewers to consider the significance of life beyond human experience and the responsibilities that emerge from our interdependence with it. The body of work seeks to create a space where wonder becomes a form of attention and attention becomes an opportunity for deeper understanding. These paintings offer an invitation to look more closely at the worlds that surround us: the intricate life of a plant, the history held within a pigment, the seasonal rhythms of a landscape, and the relationships that connect the smallest living organism to the larger systems of existence.
The project emerged through Schechter’s ongoing artistic research and was further developed in connection with her participation in the DeHaan Artist of Distinction Award, which she received in 2024 from the Indianapolis Arts Council, with support from the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation. The award supported the building of her first dedicated art studio which was built to support the completion of the body of work.