The Legend Origin Story
Legend : Mystic Exhibit – Origin Story
For over 12 years women have gathered for an annual event both in person and online called LEGEND. The class was designed for the community of Cosmic Cowgirls – wild women, who gather in circle to paint and play. Women with their head in the stars and their feet on the earth.
The original Legend painting experience was designed by Shiloh Sophia McCloud to share her innovative 13-Step process learned from working with Caron McCloud, her mother, and Sue Hoya Sellars, her art-mother and teacher. This process was developed to empower anyone who had the desire to be able to paint! You can think of it as a reverse-engineered painting process that breaks it down layer by layer, so both the experienced and the fledging painter could create an incredible painting – often to their astonishment!
Jenafer C. Owen, Musea’s Color of Woman course director, and Mary MacDonald, our head coach and course support, were present at the very first in-person Legend painting experience and have on the leadership team for each yearly delivery of Legend since then. Their leadership and presence has made this cosmic experience all the more powerful.
The most recent Legend painting course and Cosmic Cowgirls annual gathering was rescheduled from April 2020 due to travel restrictions. In response, the Cosmic Cowgirls teamed up to utilize their collective tenacity and creative prowess to plan and curate the VIVID 2020 Online Gathering for our entire student body and Musea Collective. At this gathering the Legend : Mystic painting process was designed as the feature painting event – making the painting experience available to our entire community at once!
The VIVID gathering was wildly successful with over 200 women worldwide in attendance to paint, dance, tell stories and be together in a legendary context! For seven days women gathered together online for daily Legend painting video releases, interactive group circles, pop-up salons, late-night dance parties, powerful teachings, BIWOC-specific talking circles, open studio zoom calls, meditations, music, and engagement in our private iMusea app.
The experience was life-changing and inspiring for so many who attended – providing us a container for wild, sacred creation and circle connection.
In the midst of global challenges and change… the women rose up, stronger together!
About the Exhibit
This Legend : Mystic exhibit features the paintings of over 100 women who completed their Legend painting during and after the VIVID 2020 Online Gathering. For some of the artists, this is their very first painting, and for many, this will be their first experience of being featured in an art exhibit here at Musea : Intentional Creativity Museum!
What an honor it is to feature the stories and images of each woman exploring her own Mystic Feminine nature. Each Legend painting course works with a unique theme so that student may do the process annually as a part of their community experience. Curator, Shiloh Sophia chose the Legend : Mystic theme in 2020 to inspire our community of creatives to explore the powerful aspects of the feminine mystique and psyche. Each woman was guided in a step by step fashion through the unique facets of the Mystic Template – designed by Shiloh Sophia – to gather information and translate it into story, symbol, meaning and healing.
To live a legendary life, we must be conscious of who we are being. This painting process catalyzes access to more coherent awareness and connection to the parts of us we often forget or overlook.
The paintings in this exhibit reflect the exploration each artist undertook of their incredible MYSTIC self.
and that is how Legends are made!
The Mystic Template
The Mystic Template
The Legend painting process guided women through the Mystic Template and the archetypal facets it expresses.
This provided a framework for each student to work with, enabling them to arrive at their own original Mystic archetype
and threading each facet of the template into their painting.
spacer
Explore the Seven Domains of the Feminine Psyche
spacer
Virtual Show
Virtual Show
Introduction
Exhibit
Artist Sharing Circle
Legend : Mystic – Curators’ Choice
A Message from Curator, Shiloh Sophia
Legend : Mystic – Curators’ Choice
Co-Curators’ Choice Image Gallery
A selection of cherished images and stories from the Legend : Mystic painting submissions.
Hover over images to see title, artist and painting story!
Artists Represented
Elsie Chang, Mary Ann Padulo, Barbara Hall, LeighAnne Bianco Rook,Paula Chess, Jessica Richmond, Squidge Lain, Noni Gander, Bettina Kim Simpson Young, Jenafer Owen, Lisa Williams, Anna Louise Throm, Anna Maria Michalski, Uma Joy, Latifa Lipton, Nona McKinney, Elsie H. Chang, trish o’malley, Emma Taylor, Nadya King, Mary Jean Bretton, Kate Langlois, Dena McKitrick, Mary Jean Bretton, Dierdre Davidson, Margie Bettiol, Deborah Kasman, Gisela Pineiro, Anasuya Isaacs, Gwen Gardner, Deborah Ann Bustin, Valerie Kravette, Natalie Moyes, Leann Sasamoto, Patricia Hansen, Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates, Sylvia Bhagavati, Jenn Krumm, Jesamyn Angelica, Angie Delaplain, Sue Rogers-Harrison, Starflower, Chatelle Jeram, Gina Rivers, Dr. Nirtana Susan Goodman, Annie Zimbel, Tara Taranto, Sherri Keikilani, Gwen Umphrey, Cj Madrid, Zya Be, Dr. Sue Boardman, Antara Davis, Debra Lee Babcock, Helen Litwiler, Milagros Suriano-Rivera, Bobbie Jonas, Noni Collins, Amanda Kent, Madhavi Devi. Debora Granja, Kerry Cummins Blank, Becky Mackeonis, Juniper Mainelis Aka Juniper Bay Meadows, Carol E Fairbanks, Annette Wagner, Sabine Thompson, Cassielle Bull, Monica Pryor, Cindy Messer, Moana Whatu, Paula C., Lauren Adorno-Weatherford, Colleen Crotty-Good, Tanis Roberts, Olivia Marie Oso, MaryJo Briggs, Irene Phelps Michaels, Amy Weber, Pepper Freye, Mirjam – Saray Rothen, Susan Spangler, Vanita Chauhan, Erin E King, Elizabeth Fritz, Semerit Strachan, Florance O’Neal, Anna Corsini, Maggie Yowell Wilson, Nancy Thompson, Sharon Handy, Cornelia Rabia Meinhardt, Nancey Eason, Anne Clay, Janice Harston, Erin E. King, Kristine A. Izak, Lucy Claire Curran, Johanna Ringe, Debbie McLeod, Heike Hudson, Susan Hubacker, Grace Vashti Solman, Jacquie Shenton, Amy Hatch, Nura Luna ( aka Leonor Murciano-Luna), Dawn Karolides, Katya
Thank you for witnessing the exhibit.
We invite you to leave your comments and reflections below!
Special thanks to:
Shiloh Sophia, Curator – Legend : Mystic painting process and Mystic Template designer
Cosmic Cowgirls – VIVID 2020 Online Gathering creators and hosts
Amber Gould – Exhibit Site Design and Curatorial Direction
Jenafer Owen – Image Curation and Legend Painting Support
Maia Lemann – Exhibit Site support and Communications
The Legend : Mystic 2020 Students!!
As I revisit this exhibit, i re-activate my connection and honor for being in a contributor of this collective experience. Witnessing every other women’s Legend has been the answer my desire to be a part of something larger than myself. Escavating, Exploring, and Embodying my Mystic Legend has been so transformational. My ally the turtle reminded me gently that MY time was the right time for me. I continued my journey without expectation, knowing that claiming authorship in my journey from the perspective of all of these beautiful archetypes is all i needed to embody coherence and alignment. Alignment with all my beautiful parts and claiming myself as a sacred container with the capacity to hold a vision of self agency. I am so grateful for this wonderful journey and the impact that witnessing this collective has had on me.
My Dear Shiloh, thank you for inviting me to this beautiful exhibit, I am both honored & humbled. As long as this exhibit is available, I will be watching again and again. One viewing is just not enough to take in all of the many messages/passages & stories within these beautiful, mesmerizing paintings. Absolutely amazing.