Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian McCartor.
Hi Ian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been retired from nursing for the last 2 years, where I worked bedside with patients in hospice and palliative care. Throughout my final year of 2020, I was able to work with people facing their darkest moments of isolation at the hands of our global situation at the time. During this season I observed incredible loneliness and in many, an overwhelming desire to share and connect.
At such a time when life was so precious, these terminal patients were considering the magnitude of their life’s cumulative experiences. There were many who desired an opportunity to share the wisdom they had.
For their families, there was little to no chance to gather during these times and after the loss, with traditions like burials and wakes having to be canceled and postponed for indefinite periods of time. This left a void for those needing closure.
During this season, I was able to serve some of these needs with the creative modalities of art and song. The musical albums “Star” and “Eyes to See the Wind” were written and recorded during this time, with most of the songs written from the time spent with hospice patients and their families who were generous enough to share their stories.
As well visual artwork, known as “The Art of the Ashes” began as special memorial portraits, for people who gave their bodies to art after they passed. Just as one can donate their body to science for clinical and medical discovery, so these people surrendered their remains to the inspiration of life’s reflection. It was their hope that we may better cherish the beautiful gift of living, given this sobering meditation of brevity and fragility.
I’m excited to share some specific examples of how this work has gone on to serve in some powerful ways since I last shared it with you all.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Dealing with such a heavy subject requires a great deal of patience, especially when introducing a concept to those that have never heard of such a thing. Understandably so, as it involves the most profound and intense moments of human existence: life and death, love and loss, suffering and healing. Of course, there were (and will be) challenges along the way. It is this work’s mission to continually face those obstacles and bring forth a warm welcome – a lantern for those who need it.
When encountering each barrier, it’s been helpful to remember this motto: “As it has helped one, so it may help another.” The pain of grief has unique effects on individuals. There’s no set time for its path. It’s simply our duty to be prepared when the circumstances are conducive for those willing to receive help.
The bravery of those willing to trust the work has acted as north stars for those it has gone on to serve. This work has been made possible only through some incredibly courageous and open-hearted people. I am deeply grateful to share this journey with them.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Since I retired from nursing, I have worked solely as a songwriter and draughtsman. There are many of us by title out there, but I would say that the context of the medium used in this work is unique, both physically and psychologically. It comes from very deep and potentially painful places. Loss of life – either of self or a loved one. I’ll share a specific story of how this art went on to bring forth new blooms of hope, quite literally.
I was given the ashes of a friend’s grandmother and sister a number of years ago. She gave me the ashes to create art in honor of her family members who passed but hesitated in providing a visual reference for a portrait. As time went on, I created self-portraits in the form of figurative drawings with the ashes as a personal meditation on my relationship with mortality. These pieces became a message to those who also wanted to “donate their bodies to art”.
After seeing these meditations, someone came to me with the ashes of her son, with the conviction that she knew her son would want to be of service in this way. As an artist himself, she felt this the perfect use of his remains – inspiring others to cherish life. I went on to create a portrait of this young man with his ashes, presenting it to her as a symbol of love still present, though transformed.
As the months went on, this woman went on to share her story and reach out to others that also suffered a loss. She felt that her son was now even closer to her heart and he beckoned her to help others to heal with a newfound perspective of compassion. Nearly a year went by as I witnessed this new light she led with, like a new flower in bloom. With more of his remaining ashes, I then went on to create a drawing of a single rose.
I presented this to her as a twofold symbol: One being the continuation of this love within her that has become a blossom of beauty for others to witness. The second is a representation that supports her faith in his transcendence beyond human form. She feels him now in other elements of life – the light coming through the clouds, the rain that pours down in the storm. So just as his flesh became the form of a rose, so it is that his spirit has gone beyond the restrictive definition of his mortal form, now liberated and unbound.
From this drawing, I went back to the first two people that were given to me, the grandmother and sister of my friend. I created two roses for her. One with the ashes of the grandmother and the other with the sister. I presented it to my friend and shared that though time had gone by, her bravery went on to speak to others in need. Though unknown to her at the time, this surrender led to profound healing and comfort for another.
So it goes, that when we experience the pain of grief and loss, it has the potential to inform us of the beginnings of that same beautiful bloom in others and within ourselves.
What’s next?
I stay pretty busy working with clients through word of mouth but would love more opportunities to tell more of the story behind these works so that people can know it’s out there. The people I work with often say, “I wish I knew about this sooner” and “more people need to know about this”, so I am always eager to share via articles and interviews such as this.
Currently, we are preparing to move the work’s headquarters down to central Mexico, building a studio and retreat sanctuary next door to the “Sistine Chapel of Mexico” in Atotonilco. It’s a property my wife and I discovered on our honeymoon – ruins from the early 1700s! We hope it will symbolize a physical element of what our work stands for: Building something new upon what has been lost, destroyed, or forgotten.
We hope that this studio sanctuary will be a place of regeneration and contemplation for people all around the world.
It will be a safe space to consider elements of the past, looking towards the growth of the future, while integrating these reflections within a modern community. We’re still in the initial preparation phases of the project but plan to regularly take friends and clients there as the build moves forward, treating the entire process as a meditation of perseverance.
Contact Info:
- Website: IanMcCartor.com
