Find sacred spirits at FORUM Arts exhibit

Entering a Shinto shrine is a practice of honoring what’s sacred in all things –the spirit that’s alive in trees, rocks and water. La Connerites can experience that practice themselves through art in April. FORUM Arts will be bringing a Shintoist perspective to its First Street space, exhibiting the works of Skagit Valley artist Todd Horton. “In the Middle of Now” runs April 5 to May 5, with an opening reception 5-7:30 p.m. April 13.

Horton’s exhibit was conceived in a shrine on Mount Pilchuck. The Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America, almost in the Valley’s backyard, at Granite Falls, is North America’s only Shinto Shrine.

The energy of the river brought the shrine there, says the shrine’s priest and founder Rev. Lawrence Koichi Barrish. “I built it 27 years ago,” he says. “There are some special things going on with the mountain river here, the location is really quite special.” In fact, the shrine offers ceremonies including Misogi – a purification in the river. “People’s lives are touched by this place,” he says.

Horton returned from the shrine inspired to create a series of paintings and sculptures honoring the sacred in nature in his own way. And his exhibit promises to bring a sense of Misogi to those who visit. “The objective is not only to help people understand and honor the sacred in water, but also to then seek to preserve it,” he says.

This theme is interwoven not only in the paintings, but even the foxes that will guard over the shrine from FORUM Arts’ windows – one made of wood, the other of manmade refuse.

Horton’s work is rooted in a deep reverence and respect for the natural world, says Meg Holgate, FORUM’s owner and manager. He has come to that perspective gradually. He studied history and political science at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and then got interested in sculpture. He learned to paint in Japan where he taught English in his 20s, then travelled much of the world after that, often with a large scroll of canvas slung over his shoulder. When he found his inspiration, he painted.

Horton came to the Northwest in 2004 and has dedicated himself to art full time since 2008. “I’ve been drawn to the Northwest,” he says, even while living and working in Ohio, and he’s fascinated by the connection artists here often have with Japan and Asia as a whole. Whether it’s the climate, the landscape or something less concrete, he notes, “artists in the Northwest have been influenced by Asian art” for decades.

His first one-man show, “Love, Murder, Magic,” was exhibited at the Whatcom Art Museum in 2007, under curator Kathleen Moles. Meeting Wes Smith and Andrew Vallee, the owners of Smith & Valley gallery, transitioned him into the Skagit Valley.

He has worked with local artists, including Clayton James, who rented his studio to him for a year. Today he lives in a houseboat floating on the Samish River and paints in a rented studio space at the foot of Blanchard Mountain.

While Horton is known for his nature imagery, he didn’t paint animals or landscapes until he came to Washington. Many of his pieces depict animals hazy with the hint of an answer to a question that can’t quite be expressed. Many are in a fog from which they could simply disappear.

Horton says his work is inspired by both Japanese and German philosophy and art. His heavier layers, thick brushstrokes and expressionistic style evoke Germany, while the Asian influence hints at animism – the spirit that is alive in all things.

The Shinto shrine in Granite Falls is a place of fast moving water, and high energy, Horton says, and the exhibit at FORUM Arts will reflect that. He promises visiting won’t offer a place for quiet contemplation, but rather a place to experience energy.

Holgate expects the exhibit to speak to the natural environment of the Northwest, “celebrating its abundance and beauty through the eye of one who lives close to the land,” she says. “As an artist Horton is both witness to and translator of nature’s magic.”