“I can now complete the circle of experience.”
Born in 1960 in Trinidad, West Indies, Carolyn Goodridge immigrated to Brooklyn, New York with her family in 1963. She was raised as a Pentecostal Christian. By the age of 25, she had 2 divorces and "too many" abortions. She began her spiritual search at the age of Ii and found solace in Zen Buddhism. In 1984 Carolyn took a four-month trip through Germany, Sri Lanka and South India. She worked on Wall Street as a temporary word processing specialist for 6 years. At the age of 29, she moved to Florida with her twin girls and now, at 32, is a senior at the University of Florida, majoring in painting.
AvatarŽ
has given me the joystick of life.
It has supplied me with a fairy godmother, showed me how to rub the lamp
and germinated the best belief of all that I can. I am able. I knew I had faith in life, but
now I realize that life isn't separate from me. I used to perceive the trees as
being patient and stable and the mountains as invincible. I was quite envious
of them. I wanted the freedom to fly and peck around all day with the sparrows
and perch like the pelicans. I used to feel so lonely, left out, and worst of
all, limited.
Through
Avatar, I realize that I am extremely fortunate. I am the source of patience,
strength, freedom and belonging. The trees, mountains and birds are only
reflections of me. I know if I'm ever unhappy, it's because I didn't finish
what I started and I haven't fully realized the entire experience. I can now
complete the circle of experience.
Could
I be anything else but an artist? No way!! To paint is an incredible joy, an
endless process, a miraculous journey. It is a labor of love, much like a
mother expressing milk to her children. I am suckling myself!! The miracle is
that I can enjoy experiencing both as creator and creation.
There
is an uncanny sense of effortlessness in my life; things just happen. Now there
is more room for sharing what I had hidden under the heavy bushel of anger and
judgment. There is no better ally in the quest for the miraculous than my own
self as Avatar.