Jerry Wennstrom has presented at the Birmingham Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the EMP (Experience Music Project,) Glen Arbor Art Association, the Old Firehouse Art Center, Other Side Arts, UCS-NAROPA (Wisdom University,) the Vancouver Public Library, Western New Mexico University, California Institute of the Arts and NYU. He has also done over 50 radio, TV and magazine interviews and art features. For upcoming events, new artwork and more media please visit our bolg.

Also visit Stay Inspired -- a new organization we are involved with in the East Coast.

In 1979, Jerry Wennstrom, a rising star in the New York art world, intentionally destroyed his paintings and gave away his possessions and money. He spent well over the next decade wandering, seeking, and listening, relying only on his own intuition and an unconditional trust in the Universe to provide for him. In consciously emptying himself of his identity, Jerry was led on an extraordinary spiritual journey and ultimately, a return to creating art. In his new book, The Inspired Heart: An Artist's Journey of Transformation, Jerry tells the story of his metaphorical death and rebirth as an artist and as a man. The Inspired Heart is a self-portrait of the life of a man guided by a desire to connect to the divine, and armed only with an unwavering faith in Grace to sustain him. In sharing the tale of his remarkable survival and his surrender to life experience, Jerry writes "it is important to bring the mystery of this survival back to the tribe as story." Ralph White - NY Open Center's Lapis Magazine

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The Inspired Heart:

An Artist's Journey of Transformation

By Jerry Wennstrom ISBN: 0-9710786-9-6

Sentient Publication www.sentientpublications.com

Distributed by

NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
15200 NBN Way
Blue Ridge
Summit, PA 17214
www.nbnbooks.com

PHONE: 717.794.3800
FAX: 717.794.3828

Ingram, New Leaf, Baker &Taylor & more.

(See below for Parabola/Sentient Publication's companion video- In The Hands of Alchemy: The Art and Life of Jerry Wennstrom.)

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I'm sure that many people will find comfort and inspiration in this book. Jerry is able to describe a spiritual journey outside of any ancient tradition or modern system, and I trust that originality. He avoids the many hollow words that sometimes enter contemporary spiritual thought and embodies the idea that you can be fully spiritual and fully secular at the same time. Jerry's experience shows that simply by being receptive to deep intuition and living intelligently from the heart, you can achieve a degree of holiness. In the old Sufi story people were amazed that Mojud, an untutored wanderer, developed the power to heal. I expect Jerry's book to be a source of healing, and so I can ask him the question put to Mojud: "Under whom did you study?" I would expect him to answer, "It is difficult to say." -- Thomas Moore, author of - Care of the Soul and The Reenchantment of Everyday Life

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"One of the most magnificent things about Jerry is his profound and courageous innocence. He has created a friendship with a part of himself which is in love with the world, and his art displays that. Jerry is one of the few people I know who, in a very quiet way, has actually claimed his happiness in existence." - David Whyte author- The Heart Aroused and Crossing the Unknown Sea

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The Inspired Heart is a wise and precious document, revealing the timeless secrets of simplicity and holy revelation." -- David Jay Brown - Author of Mavericks of the Mind and Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse.

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"If you listen to what Jerry has shared with us you will know how our wisest healers deal with the people in our world. Each person needs someone to 'listen' to them. Jerry has brought us to the inside of listening. Thank you Jerry for your compassion and your true and generous gift of listening and allowing us to eavesdrop. Dahadubul, you have honored each of us with the words shared in this book. These words express your beautiful gift of honoring life in all of its forms." -- Vi Hilbert - 83 year old Salish Elder, Storyteller and Author of Haboo: Native American Stories from the Puget Sound

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This artist's thoughts and experiences of living on the edge will expand and challenge your vision of life's possibilities. Travel along in the "now" as Wennstrom surfs the waves of life and carries the most colorful people with him. -- Joe Kulin Publisher Parabola Magazine

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In Jerry Wennstrom, his life is his art and art his life, a seamless flow from inner to outer expression of light and dark, multileveled, joyously humored and lit with authentic experience of being in service to its source. Above all, this artist has learned to listen to the language of the larger life as it wishes to be lived through him in all its joy, creativity, reverence - and as healing power for our time.-- Claire Dunne - Author- CG Jung - Wounded Healer of the Soul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In giving up everything - possessions, attachments, even speech and food - Jerry Wennstrom found his true self, and something more: the wellspring of human nature. His art reflects that deep level of knowing which links each of us to that part of our nature which is eternal. -- Deloris Tarzan Ament - Author- Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art (And art critic for The Seattle Times for over twenty years)

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" He really is a kind of phoenix who has risen from the ashes. He teaches us in a very gentle way you can survive an act like that, you can come through as a human being with great gentleness and beauty and that you can create your life in a highly profound and artistic fashion." -- Christina Baldwin - Author - Calling the Circle the First and Future Culture, Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest

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"Few of us have emptied our cup as completely as Jerry Wennstrom did when he destroyed his art in 1979, and therefore few have experienced as deep a reawakening to the subtle stirrings of the divine in everyday life. It's hard for me to convey how deeply I respect what Jerry shares with us in his book /,The Inspired Heart, /in his art, and above all in his person. Here is a completely genuine voice of creative spirit."-- Chris Bache - Author of Dark Night, Early Dawn

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"We have in Jerry Wennstrom's work something that is very needed for our current times: a life placed in service of the soul's depth. This surrender to a deeper calling and the conviction necessary to craft a life that supports such a response is medicine for our troubled times. If we could all dip into the wellspring of creative faith that Jerry has manifested then our world would be a better place. Jerry is an artist that shows us how to have the courage to bring healing to our world. This is one of the highest callings any of can have and we owe a debt to Jerry for helping to guide us on our collective journey. -- David La Chapelle - Author-- Navigating the Tides of Change

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The Inspired Heart -- A needed true to life mythic story - Jerry Wennstrom's narrative is piercing and irresistible. His courageous quest for spirit and meaning in a world blinded by consumerism is a modern fairy tale to find the source of art and inspiration. His stories invite the fearless heart to open.-- Laura Simms-- International storyteller & Author - Bone Man and The Robe of Love

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The Inspired Heart: An Artist's Journey of Transformation

Without hesitation, I can say that The Inspired Heart describes in content, style and intention, everything that is near and dear to my heart. It is, indeed, beautifully written, magically intimate and readily available to all who might pick it up. If we could somehow put it into a form that would dissolve, I think it should be put into public drinking water! An odorless and colorless substance that could protect the soul from calcification and nurture it into deep-rootedness in all aspects of life. The very attitudes and courage required of Jerry in making this extraordinary pilgrimage are the same required...nay, demanded...by any soul worker - counselor, analyst, therapist, or otherwise. How few really understand this when wanting to be present for another. Being truly present for another requires a ferocious trust: It requires the ability of the ego to completely step aside and to remain steadfast and committed to the Unknown. It is this trust that can heal, that can foster a capacity to love when one can find nothing to love.What is describe in this book is the very thing that is needed at this time in the world, for this understanding is in danger of being forgotten, or hidden. Stories such as these are absolutely critical, both as inspiration and as documentation. Cedrus Monte, PhD - C. G. Jung Institute- Zurich Author-The Moonlit Path: Reflections on the Dark Feminine

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Parabola VHS Video & Now on DVD by Sentient Publications

In The Hands Of Alchemy

The Art and Life Jerry Wennstrom

Directed by Phil Lucas ( PBS & Turner Broadcast- The Native American Series) and Mark Sadan (original film producer for Sesame Street)

DVD includes the new "Studio Dialogue" a presentation by Jerry Wennstrom filmed in Jerry's studio on Whidbey island, W.A. before a live audience, with music by Marilyn Strong backed by live musicians. Film includes Jerry's latest, large interactive sculptures.

To Purchase DVD - www.sentientpublications.com or www.handsofalchemy.com

To Purchase VHS -www.parabola.org or www.handsofalchemy.com

Jerry Wennstrom is one of a kind - and his point is that any of us can be that. We can, like him, walk straight into the heart of mystery and emerge more ourselves than we could ever imagine. His tells his story of being called to destroy his art, of struggling to hear any message but that one, of surrendering his will and allowing the soft something beyond will to guide him. It's all a fabulous tale worth hearing again and again like a great myth, and it's a deep, simple instruction for how to find ourselves in the middle of a life that seems real, but is often missing the central character. Jerry's amazing recent artwork, and his extraordinarily beautiful and talented wife Marilyn swirl around this story of a courageous soul, making it even more compelling. Best would be to know Jerry as I am privileged to do, second best is watching this film.

Vicki Robin - Co-author, Your Money or Your Life

About the film:

In the Hands of Alchemy is a portrait of artist Jerry Wennstrom whose work and life have become one -- a spontaneous exercise in joy and inspiration for all who aspire to make art out of life. Jerry Wennstrom is an ordinary man who has made the extraordinary choice to live, work and be in relationship in a state of surrender to the will of divine energy. This choice affects everyone he comes in contact with. In the Hands of Alchemy is a documentary of this choice and its effect.

Written for Parabola's "Cinema of the Spirit" festival, New York City, October 2000. The film was selected by a committee chaired by director Martin Scorsese.

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In the Hands of Alchemy features testimony by authors David Whyte, Christina Baldwin, artist Deborah Koff Chapin and other friends and colleagues.. Included in the film are Depung-Loseling Tibetan Monks blessing a tower that Jerry built on his land and footage of the monks humorously interacting with his large interactive sculptures.

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Quote from the film- "There is a tremendous kind of courage that Jerry showed in the midst of the chaos and the individual loneliness of the Post-Modern world, to go his own way. It was the ultimate artistic step." -David Whyte author- The Heart Aroused and Crossing the Unknown Sea

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"In the Hands of Alchemy is a delightful film, an alchemical mixture in itself of inspiration, spirituality, art and the story of a remarkable human being." David Spangler, author of Blessings; Parent as Mystic, Mystic as Parent and Everyday Miracles.

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"When Jerry Wennstrom destroyed his art in 1979, he threw himself into the great unknown searching for a more authentic life. Walking the road of radical emptiness, the result was the emergence of a completely genuine voice, gentle, sensitive to the stirrings of the divine in everyday life, and creative beyond reasonable bounds. Wedding compassion and creativity, In the Hands of Alchemy is a rare celebration of life and the joy of spiritual surrender." Chris Bache, author, Dark Night, Early Dawn

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Jerry Wennstrom writes monthly articles for Inferential Focus a NYC think-tank/consulting firm. Mythic Journeys Magazine has done an introductory interview and has begun featuring the articles in their magazine.

LINK TO MYTHIC PASSAGES ARTICLES BY JERRY WENNSTROM

Jerry's artwork is being used to illustrate myths in a new film called "Mythic Journeys" Watch trailer

Current interviews/art features:

Click HERE to listen to a recent NPR - KUOW Interview.

Artist Interview Magazine - http://www.artistinterviews.com/news-jerrywennstrom.htm

Hoard Art Magazine - http://www.hoardmag.com/jerryw/1.htm

Global Arts Review -

New Dimensions Radio - http://handsofalchemy.com/media/interviews/radio.htm

Ecology Magazine

NY Open Center's Lapis Magazine

U-Magazine

www.handsofalchemy.com

Marilyn Strong & Jerry Wennstrom

Pomegranate Seed Productions

PO 522 Clinton, Whidbey Island, WA 98236

soluna(at)whidbey(dot)com

http://www.handsofalchemy.com

http://www.jerrywennstrom.com

Blogspot

Stay Inspired