Carolyn Mary Kleefeld profile picture

Carolyn Mary Kleefeld

Art is love created

About Me

Art Exhibit at Pepperdine University


Born in England, philosopher, author and visual artist Carolyn Mary Kleefeld grew up in Southern California and studied art and psychology at UCLA. Her innovative art and writing have been used for over twenty-five years in the fields of human consciousness and creativity. A visionary pioneer, Ms. Kleefeld has the rare ability to convey through lyrical language, metaphor and symbolic image, the spiritual potential of human beings.
click image to read Carolyn's "Art Thoughts" from a 1989 notebook entry
Fueled by a need for creative expression and a lifelong fascination with psychological and spiritual transformation, Ms. Kleefeld is the author of three award-winning poetry books that explore these archetypal themes. These books have been used as texts in university courses worldwide and have been translated into Braille by the Library of Congress. Her book, The Alchemy of Possibility: Reinventing Your Personal Mythology (Merrill-West Publishing), with an introduction by Laura Archera Huxley, combines her visual art, philosophical prose and poetry, and is used as an inspirational text and oracular guidebook by healers as well as art and psychology professors.
An interview with Ms. Kleefeld is included in the anthology Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations for the New Millennium (Crossing Press), as are interviews with Alan Ginsberg, Terence McKenna, Dr. Timothy Leary and other cutting-edge thinkers of our time.

click image to read interview with David Jay Brown -
featured in Mavericks of the Mind

Her most recent book, Kissing Darkness: Love Poems and Art, a lovers’ dialogue in poetry written in collaboration with David Wayne Dunn, was published in 2003 by Riverwood Books, an imprint of White Cloud Press (publishers of Kahlil Gibran).
Over the past two decades, Ms. Kleefeld has created an extensive and diverse body of drawings and paintings, ranging in style from romantic figurative to abstract. In her language of poetic imagery, Ms. Kleefeld expresses the passions of the human heart and a pantheistic reverence for the Big Sur wilderness she inhabits. In addition to being featured in art magazines and textbooks, her award-winning art can be found in the personal collections of Ted Turner, Laura Archera Huxley, and many others, as well as at the United Nations, and in hospitals, galleries and museums nationwide.
S E L E C T E D H O N O R S & A W A R D S
*Art featured on front cover, The Bodhi Tree Semi-Annual Newsletter* 30th Anniversary Issue 2000
*Art auctioned at Christie’s, as part of Dr. Timothy Leary Estate Sale 1998* Guest Eulogist, Allen Ginsberg Memorial Service, Wadsworth Theater, Los Angeles, California 1997
*Guest Speaker, Second Annual Arts Festival, Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California 1995*
*Guest Speaker* Albert Hoffman Foundation, Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California 1995
*Interviewed on film by renowned cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond* For documentary which aired in Europe on Big Sur artists 1994
*Guest Speaker on panels at UCLA & UCSC after publication of Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations for the New Millennium* With such speakers as Dr. Timothy Leary, John Lilly, M.D. and Laura Archera Huxley 1993/1994
*One-woman exhibit and poetry reading at Gallerie Illuminati, Los Angeles, California 1990*
*Numerous gallery and museum awards and exhibitions between 1990 and the present* In New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Carmel, Big Sur and other locations nationwide (list of exhibitions available upon request), as well as a line of fine art cards.
As a Flag
Over the years,
pieces of myself have died.
The winds of time
have hurled themselves relentlessly
against my anthem.
I stand now as a flag
to my experiences –
worn and tattered,
on the cliff’s edge,
gazing out to sea.
Yet I keep singing,
like the birds
after the storms –
like the sun-drenched day,
smiling with innocence
after the wind’s assault.
Falling again into
the eternal moment,
I bow like a wavering flag
before the sun.
© 2004 Carolyn Mary Kleefeld

My Interests

My art serves as an interactive mirror of my innermost process, whisking me out of time, into the Timeless. To live and create my art from the Unconditioned well of being and inspire this in others is my life's work.

The Diamond Buckle
She was partly turned on
and partly turned off.
And in between
was her diamond buckle
sewed onto an old leather belt.
Yes, partly turned off
and partly turned on –
passionate in dream,
a discomfort with life.
Yes, on and off with
a diamond buckle
and the old leather belt,
demanding she live.
Then blossomed a spring time
when her rhythms swept her
beyond her belt –
and threw away the buckle.
She ran free as a child
dancing with the wind.
And the wild beasts
devoured her discomfort.
Life had digested her anew
And by some mysterious token,
lent beat to her once withered heart.
She rode on the back
of a white egret’s tail.
And dropped her fallen self
to the sea…
Watching it dissolve into salt.

© 2006 Carolyn Mary Kleefeld

I'd like to meet:

Prospective distributors, publishers and others with mutual interests and creativity.
I'm here for communications through my art work and to do the same for artists in the Gallerie Illuminati International.

Music:


Books:

BOOKS BY CAROLYN MARY KLEEFELD MAY BE PURCHASED AT:http://www.carolynmarykleefeld.com/books.html
Kissing Darkness: Love Poems and Art (co-authored with David Wayne Dunn) • The Alchemy of Possibility: Reinventing Your Personal Mythology (with Foreword by Laura Archera Huxley) • Songs of Ecstasy, art booklet • Lovers in Evolution • Satan Sleeps with the Holy: Word Paintings • Climates of the Mind • Mavericks of the Mind

Heroes:

For Robinson Jeffers
O Robinson, with infinite courage,
your magnificent soul, like a mossy cliff,
juts out over the sea.

In the boldness of tiny, yet cold stone,
you thrive, accumulating power,
like a hibernating bear or unfolded flower.

From the sacrosanct realm of dream,
your roots drink and flourish.

The Unspoken Dialogue pulsates
your primordial caves, circulating
through you like a river,
incarnating meditative worlds,
spawning your seminal surge of words.

© 2002 Carolyn Mary Kleefeld

My Blog

New art and poetry blog

Welcome friendsto my new blog - inviting everyone to join conversations about art, poetry and literature and the latest news about upcoming art shows. CMKhttp://cmkblog.wordpress.com...
Posted by Carolyn Mary Kleefeld on Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:52:00 PST

New Carolyn Mary Kleefeld Blog!

Hello I am very excited about a new Carolyn Mary Kleefeld Blog outside of MySpace.PLease join us in discussing Art, Poetry and Spiritual Transformation.http://cmkblog.wordpress.com
Posted by Carolyn Mary Kleefeld on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:16:00 PST