Artist Collyn Gold on Exploring Emotional and Spiritual Themes Through her Abstract Art
Collyn Gold is a talented contemporary abstract artist known for her bold and colorful work that touches on deep emotional and spiritual themes. In this interview, Collyn shares how her personal experiences, including surviving a near-death battle with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, have shaped how she sees both art and life. She talks about finding inspiration in everyday things like nature and architecture and explains how she’s learned to push through tough times by staying true to who she is. She also opens up about her fight against stereotypes, her creative process, and how she hopes her art encourages conversations about connection, beauty, and the strength it takes to keep going in a divided world.
Collyn Gold is a contemporary abstract artist whose bold, abstract paintings delve into the emotional and spiritual layers of the human experience. Often touching on themes that deal with ideas such as pareidolia, chaos vs. order, sacred geometry and color as an evocation of joy, she invites her viewers to contemplate their own ideas and images that they see within the painting. Collyn’s work is known for its striking use of color and texture, creating dynamic compositions that invite viewers to explore the unseen force behind each piece. Collyn earned a BFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 2009, where a rigorous education in technique and theory helped shape a distinctive art voice. The foundations was later enriched by a pivotal experience working with master visionary artists Alex and Allyson Grey at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a spiritual and artistic environment that reinforced the belief in art as a tool for personal and collective transformation. A life-changing battle with Guillain-Barre Syndrome lead to a near-death experience which shifted Collyn’s artistic and spiritual prospective. During this time, the physical ability to create art was severely impacted, leading to a period of reflection that deepened the work’s emotional and spiritual dimensions. Art became a healing process , and the paintings began to reflect the fragility of existence and the profound interconnectedness of all life. Now based in Long Island, New York, Collyn’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions and is held in private collections as well as some mural work. Each piece is a deeply personal expression, where the abstract meets the emotional, offering viewers a space for reflection and connection.
1. What initially drew you to pursue a career in the arts, and how has your journey evolved since then?
The only thing I ever wanted to be was an artist. It was one of the few things that seemed to come easy to me I began taking technical art classes as a child, and it has always remained a constant in my life. I feel like I have lived many lives, there are a lot of elements to my story, Ive face a lot of trauma in my life, but battles make you stronger, and art has always remained a healing element in my life, and out of all the pieces that make up my life art has been one of the things I wish to define my life with. My career has evolved so much over the years, I have been working as a serious artist for the last 20 years, I started young, I had a lot of amazing opportunities come my way and I am so grateful for all the experiences that helped shape me to the artist I am today.
Working along side visionary artist Alex and Allyson Grey at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors profoundly influenced my understanding of art as a medium for spiritual exploration and personal growth.
Collyn Gold
2. Can you share a memorable moment or experience in your art career that has significantly impacted your perspective or approach to your craft?
One of the most impactful experiences of my career has definitely been my job working as a gallery manager and assistant to Alex and Allyson Grey at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in Chelsea, NYC. Not only did I get to work with these visionary masters on a daily basis but they also introduced me to a whole network of other artists, philosophers, scientists and thinkers in the forefront of psychedelic research. They created a community of people who helped them literally build an art church in Wappingers Falls, New York, and I am so grateful for having experienced it in the very beginning stages.
3. How do you find inspiration for your work, and what techniques do you use to stay creatively motivated during challenging times?
I find inspiration everyday in nature, in architecture, the beautiful and mundane. I follow a lot of other artists and love to see what other people are making. I’ve learned over the years that motivation is an action word, sometimes you literally have to force yourself to do something. A white canvas can be an awfully intimating thing at times, sometimes you just have to not be afraid to make a mess. Don’t be afraid to make a “bad painting”. I also believe in listening to yourself and your body, it is important when to know when to step back for a moment and actually take a look at what your doing.
4. As a woman in the arts, have you faced any specific obstacles or stereotypes along your journey, and how have you overcome them?
Throughout my journey, I have encountered many obstacles and stereotypes often faced by women in the art world. I cant tell you how many people just did not take me seriously as a young artist. These challenges have fueled my determination to create work that defies catagorization and speaks to the complexity of identity, emotion and experience. Rather than being confined by societal expectations, I have used them as a catalyst for growth, allowing my art to transcend boundaries and resonate on a deeper level. As a girl named Collyn (pronounced Colin) there has always been a little confusion and for a very long time as soon as a gallery realized I was a female, I would get the good old pat on the shoulder and a “thats cute” response. I definitely have more of a consistent and clearer voice now, with a stronger grasp of technique than I did 20 years ago. The biggest thing for me was just NEVER. GIVING. UP. I have had many reasons and excuses to quit. A lot of rejection can have a way of breaking you, to just not want to try anymore. I needed a new approach. Once I started making art for myself and not for “fame”, “money” or “recognition,” my work seemed to take on a vision that was more authentic to myself. I was no longer allowing the fear of not being taken seriously to stop me from doing the thing that I love. So despite all the setbacks I have had in my life, I have always fought to get back on top. Making work for the sake of art-making, the healing meditative qualities of the process, and for the love of it is what drives me. Overcoming the fear of being perfect in fact gave me the freedom and the courage to put myself back out there, manifesting the people in my life who get what it is I am trying to do. All it takes is one right person to get you.
My goal is to create work that resonates on an emotional and spiritual level-pieces that offer moments of reflection, where viewers can find fragments of their own stories within the abstraction. Each painting is a journey, both for me as the creator and those who engage with it.
Collyn Gold
I hope my artwork can evoke of feeling of altered consciousness, delving into a world of psychedelic chaos, purging negativity and reiterating the interconnectedness of all beings. I hope there are discussions on the use of color as a tool for joyful emotional response. I want people to come to their own conclusions as to what they see in the primordial ooze. I use materials such as gold leaf, holograph paper, starburst and lightning bolt shaped glitter, and turn them into microscopic flying specs across the artwork, only to be seen on an angle where the light hits it, or if you come up close to get a deeper look. I want people to move around and interact with the piece, using their instinctive response of pareidolia to extract images their minds eye creates. I believe in the end we are all going to the same place. Energies, or souls do not dissipate, the regenerate as something else, becoming absorbed into the chaos of the universe and turned into something new. I utilize the spirograph tool as a means to create, mandala-like structures as a way to create continuous geometric patterns, representing the ineffable, influenced from the infinite sacred geometric patterns in Islamic art, acting as a portal to another dimension or a visual representation for meditation, much like the tantric mandalas found in Buddhist art. This mix of juxtaposition and the merging of these two techniques which have been used for thousands of years is a way for me to say we are all the same, and I hope at the end of the day my work can begin this dialogue. In a time where the world is so completely divided and algorithms seem to control the fate of the user, where we are more connected, yet the most isolated we’ve ever been, wars and brutality seem to reign supreme and it just seems like everything is run by fear, I aim to give a small reprieve from the negativity and try to remind ourselves of the beauty, fragility and sacredness of life and that love conquers all, despite the color of our skin or our belief systems.
Collyn Gold’s creative journey shows the incredible power of creativity to heal and connect. Through her experiences, she has developed a deeper understanding of life, which comes through in her vibrant and meaningful art. Her work encourages us to see beauty in chaos and to reflect on our own lives. To learn more about Collyn, click the following links to visit her profile.
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