Embracing the Art and Healing of Mariah Ke’olani
While some may think of a painting as a stationary object, others feel emotion pulsing from the canvas. Poet and critic Eli Siegel said, “To change paper into a crackling universe is energy.”
Artist, teacher and natural healer Mariah Ke’olani infuses her art with her own energy honed both from personal intuition and a broad range of studies including with a shaman in Mexico. She explains, “Combining the power of my voice with various art forms, I developed a unique, holistic approach to energy healing and self-expression that is uniquely my own.”
This rich internal and external world is portrayed in her Flow, Abstract Landscape, Fruit and Dream Interpretation series. She comments, “For me painting is an exploration of the psyche. What I love is everyone is drawn to something different. It might be brightness or something that is moody or dark. There’s no right or wrong.”
A deep desire to help others began early in her life. Ke‘olani recounts, “I grew up in a family with a rich tradition of healing and spiritual exploration. My great-grandfather crafted tarot decks and authored books on self-mastery, while my grandmother caravaned around in the 60s/70s, forming connections with influential figures like Ram Dass. My mother studied at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing Hands, and my father is a doctor. This lineage profoundly influenced my path, even though I didn’t uncover this family history until years after I started my healer path.”
Ke‘olani, who often works with young people, has an approach which embraces child-like freedom, what she calls, “the closest thing to source energy.” She says, “In my healing training we learned about shapes and forms. They can release energy or bring things in, the energy of a triangle vs a square, balancing the composition in the space. I use this in my art and think how can I apply color and emotional data, and what shape would help me heal that emotion.”
Thinking outside the square or box also applies to showing her work. “I like non-traditional art spaces and bringing together friends and community. What else can we have in the art space and not just paintings?” Ke‘olani has exhibited at a pop up this fall with her friend Zoe Pennebaker Breen at the Bonne Nuit boutique in Southampton and was part of the East Hampton Town Hall Creative Networking Night. She has a dream of collaborating with other artists to create a children’s playground which no doubt would appeal to the inner child of people of all ages.
Along with her art, Ke‘olani offers group and individual session which draw on meditation and reiki and clearing. It would not be surprising to find her analyzing the energy of a space or a home to rid it of negative energy and encourage peace and harmony for its inhabitants.
Of her practice she says, “Everyone releases pressure and stress in different ways, whether it is in the physical body or mental space. I don’t believe in coining a single method or trend. I believe in meeting people where they are. That might look like an artist retreat, a sound bath, a Kundalini yoga class, or something much simpler. The real question is: where do you find peace? Maybe it’s reading, or painting in a flow state. That’s where we begin. What I do recommend are regular energetic check-ups with a trusted healer to feel grounded, confident, and more connected to your joy.”
What better way, and as Siegel would say, to create “a crackling universe.”
