Caroline nicole haag artist

“Flower: Elements of Earth X,” India ink on Bristol board, 11’ by 14” original, 16” by 20” limited edition prints

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.”

~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Flower is such a soft form of earths expression. In trying to become strong, it’s easy to forget softness is a strength. To grow hard and coarse in the face of adversity is easy compared to being able to grow colorful, lush, abundant, velvety and fragrant in the face of the same. Flowers to me are the least frightening thing; flowers are dreams instead of nightmares, play instead of work, joy instead of terror, grace instead of struggle. As a younger woman, I wanted to be strong like a mountain, like an earthquake, like a tsunami. As an older and wiser woman, I want to be strong like a flower, like water, like the wind. We think of strength as combative, but the best warriors are also dancers. Beyond crude, immature strength is transcendent grace. In maturing I began to realize that my love, softness, tenderness and grace that were so obvious when I was a child were in fact strengths. The cruelties of the world taught me to hide and protect them for a long time. I became hard- like the mountain. So now I strive for the strength of the flower. I can guard that tender heart with the mountains I built, but inside those safe walls- I will cultivate a secret garden where all of that velvety fragrant softness can abide in peace and be shared with those who know how to treat flowers. May you also keep your secret garden, and may your flowers always bloom.

“Thunder: Elements of Earth XI,” India ink on Bristol board, 11’ by 14” original, 16” by 20” limited edition prints

“The voice that beautifies the land! 

The voice above,

The voice of thunder

Within the dark cloud 

Again and again it sounds,

The voice that beautifies the land.”

-Twelfth Song of Thunder [Navajo Tradition]

Native American tribes believe that storms are earths way of releasing emotion; thunder, lighting and rain and her release of anger and sadness. Most western peoples find it challenging to truly believe earth could have emotions or to personify her. Perhaps for our purposes- it is less important to realize the truths that come from personifying earth and more important to realize how earth-like we are. We are not always sunny; we rain, we flash, we crash. We are often as mystified by our need to express as we are by the sudden appearance of storms in the skies. Earth demonstrates to us in irrefutable ways how things work in the most graphic of terms. We-like earth- are as beautiful in our power and chaos as we are in our hospitable peace. We may in fact roll our thunder and flash our lightning, and we must in the fashion of our earth. 

This piece holds a special place for me- my work as an artist has at times been heavy or difficult in subject matter. This can make the work harder to sell or connect to, but it is a point of conviction for me that art must talk about important, real issues.

“Ice: Elements of Earth XII,” India ink on Bristol board, 11’ by 14” original, 16” by 20” limited edition prints

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In connecting to this series- I’ve looking into what ways human beings are analogous to the forces of nature. Water is fascinatingly polymorphous; from its gaseous to its liquid to its frozen form, it changes beyond recognition. I identify with this in the sense that I am one essence that has to adapt to drastically changing circumstances. Sometimes I must flow, sometimes I must float, and sometimes I must freeze. Ice takes up more space than liquid water, and can be astoundingly strong and rigid. Water in the cracks of a stone that freezes can break the stone. Ice burns the skin, but differently than steam. We have found ancient remains untouched inside ice as though time was stopped entirely- impervious to decay. Ice can also drift from the clouds in perfect tiny fractal formations- cloaking the earth in a cold white fur. What a magical thing that one substance can wear so many faces. As we can- we, like ice, can be gentle or powerful and we are beautiful in both cases. 

“Force: Elements of Earth XIII,” India ink on Bristol board, 11’ by 14” original, 16” by 20” limited edition prints

“What do you think it's like, for the ocean, when men throw rocks into her? Or trash into her? Ocean wraps tons of weight in her heart around even the tiniest rock, or the tiniest bit of trash, while they just stand there. And what do you think it's like for lightning? She breaks open skies because nothing fits inside anymore, while they just stand there naming her 'terrifying' and 'difficult'.”

~C. JoyBell C., The Conversation of Immortals (The Conversations #4)

Force. Force is considered an actual element of earth or individual acting force. Water, ice, wind and many of the others are the medium for the art that is force. Nature displays astonishing range and skills in her art made with force. I can see in my minds eye countless fearsome displays of force- they strike terror, awe, wonder and a strange sense of comfort in the truth of it all at once. I’ve ridden the same bike trail so many times. It was never so beautiful as it was during a violent storm. The trail flooded with astonishing volumes of churning, rushing water. Thunder cracked overhead. Snakes emerged from the woods. Formerly quaint paths became impassable, dangerous flood zone. Where I had ridden my bike calmly to the sounds of birds and crickets I now had to wade holding my bike overhead to keep it from pushing me down into the water like an umbrella in a gale. It became such a powerful rip current that I had to turn back. There’s something so profound about seeing nature transform from her usual hospitable self into something so powerful and dangerous. It reminds us both of our own power in its parallel to us, and our own finiteness in the face of nature’s tremendous and universal power. 

“Moon: Elements of Earth XVI,” India ink on Bristol board, 11’ by 14” original, 16” by 20” limited edition prints

“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”

~Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony