~ ~

Aura
Portrait
Studio
 

"Marlene Fern Caldes"

Born in Manhattan, New York, I have resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 30 years. I graduated from high school in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and attended Emerson College in Boston to study mass communications. Once I relocated to San Francisco, I extended my communications studies to include Music, (opera, counterpoint and composition,) Metaphysics, Buddhism, Tai Chi, Kabbalah, Hawaiian Shamanism (Huna) and Mandarin Chinese. Through these studies I continued to develop the strong sense of wonder and universal spirituality that was instilled in me throughout my childhood. I was drawn to mysticism.

In 1980 I joined the Precious Ink Chamber Tour from Oahu, Hawaii to explore the art of Chinese Brush Painting in the provinces of China. I was honored to paint with the great artists from many provinces with this talented group of individuals from the Islands. My journey throughout China during that unusual era inspired me to delve deeply into the photographic arts to capture my impressions and fascination with this culture. I continued to explore my artistic interest in photography at the Academy of Art in San Francisco with this body of work from China and over the next 10 years excelled in portraiture and product and fashion photography.

All of my life I have been motivated by my thirst for knowledge of other cultures and art forms. My primary aim and aspiration was to satisfy a deep hunger and curiosity about the world in which I lived, and the cultures and environs that make up this great web of life.

After many years of private practice as a Metaphysician and portrait photographer, I forged ahead with the conversations of spirituality, science, and its connection to our universe with my radio program, “HotLine to the HighSelf,” in 1994. It was from this venue, with the encouragement of Dr. Moira Gunn, Ph.D.,( my executive producer, co-host, and creator of NPR’s “TechNation”,) that Aura Portraiture was ignited.

The birth of Auric Portraiture as art form occurred during the exchanges on the air with our listening audience. I experienced an unexpected but amazing visual of their energetic force fields on the airwaves. As we spoke I began quickly rendering the shape and color of their auras with simple chalks I brought for the occasion. Those initial thumbnails opened a whole new area of expression for me. My spiritual nature and artistic inclinations converged.

I refer to my Aura Portraits as MetaExpressionism, an art form that speaks to the invisible, multidimensional fields of energy. It captures that lucid, luminous, diaphanous, and miraculous mystery of light that exists beyond the confines of our five senses.

EMANATIONS is the first series of pastel renderings and is dedicated to the many souls who have crossed my path and stunned me with their spectacular beauty and astonishing divinity. Such dazzling luminosity and brilliance has filled me with an inspiration that sought to make itself known and seen beyond my wildest imaginings.

I thank and dedicate a selection of the works to: His Holiness, the Dalai Lama; James Redfield; Maya Angelou; Dr. John Gray, PhD; Dr. Deepak Chopra; Oprah Winfrey; Dr. Maria Nemeth, PhD; and Linda Applewhite, and many others.

Marlene Fern Caldes