Sedona Cohen (b. 1999, Detroit, MI), is an artist who embodies authenticity in every thought and every brushstroke. Despite residing in the frenetic New York, her essence remains intact, carrying a vital energy that transcends urban chaos. We spoke with her to learn more about the energy that drives her work and the carved pieces she presented in her exhibition ‘Atria’ with Buffalo Prescott and Trotter&Sholer in New York.
Cohen navigates between the cycles of tides, sun, and moon, transforming her artistic practice into a means of spiritual exploration and healing. In the alchemical laboratory of her studio, she creates living landscapes that breathe and pulsate with an intelligence beyond human perception, each brushstroke a quantum entanglement of intention and surrender. Her works trace neural networks that connect the microscopic to the cosmic, the personal to the universal.
Her sacred portals gather the symbolic and ancestral, manifesting a contemporary spirituality unafraid to reveal its origins. Cohen’s artistic practice unfolds as a continuous flow, not a linear process with a beginning and end, but as an organic extension of her existence.
A creative process rooted in a holistic and cyclical vision of life, where rituals, nature, meditation, and spirituality unite. Creation is conceived as an act of integration and balance, a dance between the visible and invisible, where time, space, and identity become extraordinarily flexible.
Her work invites us to experience how consciousness can manifest through art, converting each canvas into a portal of transformation and knowledge, where the ritual and intention we deposit each day become our most powerful tool of transformation, reminding us that every moment is an opportunity to bring light, meaning, and coherence to our existence.
Interview conducted by Victoria Rivers / Profile pictures by Angelo Capacyachi / Installation images by Shark Senasac
Hi Sedona! How would you describe yourself?
My favorite color is blue and my second favorite color is green. I mostly feel like I am the blue and I want to be in the green. But sometimes it’s the other way around.
What does Sedona Cohen contemplate?
How can the seen quality of visual art explore the unseen?
How can a painting help you find what you didn’t know you were looking for?
If the past is just a memory of previous present moments, and the future is just an idea of potential present moments, where is a painting? How is a painting an archive of previous present moments and potential present moments? Can a painting exist across time and hold an unlimited amount of information?
ON CREATIVE PROCESS AND SPIRITUALITY: Could you take us through your creative journey, from the moment of inspiration to final materialization?
I wouldn’t say that I experience the creative journey as an isolated process that has a beginning, middle, and end. My art practice is not confined to the production of physical objects, but rather, I find that it pervades every area of my lived experience, whether it’s apparent in the final product or not. The objects I create and the worlds which they have been born from/born into have their own expansive mental space, substantial physicality, and their own timeline of development/maturation/aging/evolution.
I can look at my practice from a multitude of perspectives, through different lenses, from different angles. When I consider an aspect of my practice through the lens of its timeline, I can zoom in or out to any scale. Some of the paintings included in Atria certainly contain elements that are derived from experiences in early childhood, as well as from the circumstances that occurred just before the moment of creation.
But when I don’t zoom out quite as far, I would say that in recent years, my practice has behaved in a rhythmic cycle, reflecting the inhalation and exhalation of the lungs. Just as the set of lungs inhales fresh oxygen, I need periods of complete immersion in nature to absorb and take in. I find my own body’s rhythm in sync with the rhythm of my natural landscape, living my daily life structured around the pattern and direction of the tides, the weather, the sun and moon. Living in this way of a settled nervous system is like a filter that lets in a certain kind of information with ease. Just as the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place and a transformation occurs, I undergo my own processing of information and experience. Although I require oxygen, my lungs only have a certain air capacity, so after I have taken in as much as is necessary for me to function, then comes the point where it becomes beneficial to exhale and create.
To answer this question more practically, I usually begin with a very simple sketch with my mechanical pencil and then make a drastic leap to the exploration of my large surface. I move between working quickly, immersed, low stakes, exploring, to meticulous and lovingly layered and worked into.
Meditation, conscious creation, and process… Do you perform any ritual?
Ayurveda plays a large role in several aspects of my life. It is a system of medicine that originated in India over 5,000 years ago. The word Ayurveda comes from the Sanskrit words ayur (life) and Veda (science or knowledge). It is a way of living that utilizes the inherent qualities present in nature as medicine to bring balance to the mind, body, and spirit.
One of the most key aspects of living Ayurvedically is the morning routine which usually consists of waking early with the sun, and cleaning the eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, and tongue. These cleansing practices as well as sipping hot water, meditation, pranayama (breathing exercises), and yoga asana practice bring me into a peaceful present state of being to enter my day.
When I abandon my morning practices and rush right into “being productive” I often find myself sitting in the studio ready to make, but ungrounded and in a place of friction. Our physical world is simply a mirror of our internal world, so that space needs to be taken care of. We can shift our perception of the outer world by restructuring our thought patterns.
I can be quite sensitive, especially to the intense physical surroundings that New York City often brings. One way I make myself feel secure, stable, and protected is by putting a small amount of pure rose essential oil on each day. I apply a tiny amount around my forehead, on my neck, on my wrists, and just below my nose so I can smell it. Rose oil is considered a protector. Putting it on is like putting on my armor.
How would you describe the sensation of being in a “flow state” during your creative process?
It’s quite interesting observing how time passes when I’m working in my studio. I can easily become immersed and work for 6-8 hours straight and it feels as though only an hour has passed. But this experience doesn’t feel like time is slipping through my fingers. It doesn’t feel like I’m being energetically drained. It rather feels like time is still like I have lived 8 hours but only aged 1 hour. Rather than running on a tank of gas which is slowly being emptied, it feels like a renewable resource; a power bank that generates more energy than it consumes. Of course, it isn’t like this every day in the studio, sometimes I leave utterly exhausted!
Time behaves differently… like when I enter the state I am arriving on a planet that has different laws of physics, so I cannot identify it in the moment. It is something I observe only after I have left the state, like only realizing you were in a dream after waking from it.
How do you navigate between being the channel and being the creator? Where does one end and the other begin?
A circle is round, it has no beginning and no end. The roles of the channel and the creator are like objects and forms in a painting bending to meet each other.
How does meditation interweave in your process?
Rather than those things informing my artistic process, I would actually use those to describe my artistic process. Anything in life can be a medicine or a poison depending on how it is treated. Someone can be addicted to coffee (or anything) which causes them to be dictated by it, depleted by it, and ultimately negatively impacted by it, or they can treat it as a sacred ritual imbued with intentionality. Poison or medicine. The ritual of tending to one’s studio is a thing of true beauty and a work of art itself.
By cultivating a practice of daily meditation, we can move from stress reactivity to functional interactivity.
What role does silence play?
I am often asked what I listen to while I paint. As I spoke to before, the external environment is a reflection of our internal environment. I feel like what I choose to listen to while I paint perhaps is the bridge between those two spaces and depends on the state of my mind. Some days I need music that makes me feel like I’m dancing while I’m painting, other days I need to listen to something that makes me laugh, sometimes binaural alpha waves, soundscapes, or mantras, and some days I need complete silence. I find this experience plays out on my long walks as well. I walk, a lot, every day, it’s another key element to tending to myself and my artistic practice. I suppose, in a way, those walks are paintings as well because I leave a microscopic trace wherever I go. Very large-scale paintings.
When did you realize that art would be your path of healing and spiritual expression?
I think my art practice, my healing, and my spiritual expression are in a Venn diagram, and I am experiencing revelations all the time. Sometimes their overlap helps me understand my present circumstances, and sometimes something from the distant past, but always moving toward peace and expansion.
The power of this crossover of art, healing, and spiritual expression is embodied in the work that Samara Furlong is doing with her studio residency project Buffalo Prescott. She has created a vivid community that encourages and celebrates the healing power of artistic expression. It’s been so easy and lovely to collaborate on this exhibition with Buffalo Prescott and the gallery Trotter & Sholer from a place of shared intention.
About Doors to New Dimensions, Gardens, Water, Ancient Trees, and Light. The ancestral symbols in your work seem to whisper ancient secrets, sacred geometry appears to govern everything.
The paintings are containers of information. The information, which can be held for an indefinite amount of time, is processed within its environment and can be exchanged with other paintings. They are self-sustaining ecosystems that communicate with each other.
I have created my own set of symbols and forms which are constantly evolving at a pace similar to that of a flower blooming or a seed sprouting. You cannot see the change if you stare closely at the bud, trying to watch the sprout happen. But if you leave and return several hours later, you will see the change that has taken place. If you saw a timelapse of the bloom you would see the evolution taking place right before your eyes. Contained within each microscopic seed is the potential of the most elegant blossom, the sweetest fruit, and the most vibrant green vegetable.
When I set out all the paintings I have created in chronological order, I am able to observe the seeds that were planted in my early works which sprouted into certain shapes and symbols, then later morphed, evolved, and grew. Each painting communicated to the next, whether I knew about it or not.
That emerald green… where does it come from?
At the moment I can’t seem to make anything without it! I’ve been moving between periods of being submerged in the green jungle (the inhale) and being in the industrial landscape of the city (the exhale). When I’m here in the city, I inevitably end up creating my own green space to dwell within.
There is a certain mysterious magical quality to an emerald that feels both ancient and futuristic. Lately, I’ve been looking into The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, which was highly regarded.
Lately I’ve been looking into The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, which is an ancient cryptic stone inscribed with profound aphorisms and stands as a cornerstone of western alchemical tradition rooted in Hermetic philosophy. The Emerald tablet, which was originally inscribed in ancient Syriac, has a plethora of translations, each offering its own unique takes on the teachings. For those who are interested, here is a link to the well-known 1928 translation by Steele and Singer in of the 12th-century Latin translation by Hugo of Santana.
ABOUT INTENTION AND PUROPOSE: The works, protective talismans…
Perhaps a painting can help you find what you didn’t know you were looking for. The relationship between what’s contained within a painting and what it references outside of itself allows the painting to store unlimited information. How can the seen quality of an object explore the unseen? Just like us, paintings can hold and share secrets and be teachers.
Is it something that happens during the process or is it an initial intention?
The created object is able to not only (attempt to) answer questions, but also pose questions itself. The questions travel as signals through an invisible network from the painting’s “brain” into the viewers’ brains through a sensorial and emotional process of relationship recognition. There is a kind of time travel that occurs when a painting is viewed.
The speed of the transfer of information from object to viewer, which is taking place in the present moment, can be somewhat controlled by the maker in the past. By structuring the painting in specific ways, certain information can be communicated more quickly or slowly. It can be clearly laid out or encoded.
There can also be information transmitted to the viewer that was not intended by the maker. I think of this as a lake where two boats cross, their trailing streams collide paths, which sends some water in the opposite direction it would have gone had there been no interference. Or two droplets of water landing on the opposite end of a still pond, whose concentric rings interact with each other on the surface of the water. There is a portal from the past (creation) to the present (viewing) where the information is transformed.
How do your works act as bridges between the collective subconscious and tangible reality?
There is knowledge planted in my work, both known and unknown to me. Each person will have revealed to them precisely what they are meant to receive at that given moment.
“We have the truth still with us. But it is not found in books, to any given extent. It has been passed along…from lip to ear. When it was written down at all, its meaning was veiled in terms of alchemy and astrology, so that only those possessing the key could read it aright.” -Three Initiates, the Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece.
REFLECTIONS: How does this exhibition relate to the current moment we’re living as a society?
I felt that the timing of the exhibition opening was perfect – just a week after election day. I am grateful to have contributed to Buffalo Prescott’s intention to create a space for people to come together and share a moment of meditation, healing, and peace.
How can we maintain a sacred space for creation amidst daily chaos?
Just as children closely observe and then mimic their parents, we have the ability to positively influence those around us simply by bringing ourselves into balance. We all have those people in our lives who, as soon as we are in their presence, cause us to instantly forget whatever story and drama we were telling ourselves in our head. I am an advocate for a daily practice of meditation. When you bring yourself into a higher state of consciousness and awareness, into more peace, you not only influence those around you with your demeanor, but you will find that you are better able to distinguish the best mode of action for the need of the time.
Be an agent of progressive change.
Which masters, both from the physical and spiritual plane, have shaped your artistic vision?
I want to explore the spaces where scientific and spiritual inquiry amalgamates, with painting as a tool for seeking answers. The study of electricity, rebirth, healing, the male and female principles of nature, and spiritual systems mapped through dynamic symmetry present in the work of the Transcendental Painting Group is an important source for my practice.
Specifically the work of Agnes Pelton, Emil Bisttram, Raymond Jonson, and Florence Miller Pierce, as well as other artists operating within a similar framework such as Emma Kunz, Paulina Peavy, Alexander Tovborg, and Theodora Allen. I admire the systematic way of working embodied by Louise Despont, Channa Horwitz, and Adolf Wölfli.
Of course, when I first saw Hilma af Klint’s show at the Guggenheim during my freshman year of school at RISD I was mesmerized. It was the first time that I internalized the idea that I could create a visual language of my own and assemble it in various configurations to communicate a specific message.
There have been unforeseen teachers who came into my life who have taught me the healing of living a life in tune with the rhythms of nature, and other teachers who have taught me the healing power of the mind. I am grateful to have been introduced to potent techniques that have allowed me to expedite my healing process radically throughout the past several years.
Growing up attending a Waldorf school from kindergarten until 5th grade absolutely shaped my artistic vision as well. I have found that visual language appears in much of my work and I have welcomed it. I appreciate their philosophy of art being utilized in tandem with learning, and I find that to be the case in my own present-day practice.
What would you like people to feel when experiencing your work?
Everyone will receive precisely what they need at that moment in time. The lips of wisdom are closed except to the ears of understanding.
How do you believe creation can be a healing tool for others and oneself?
All objects in our world are a product of human consciousness. The chair I am sitting on while writing this, the stained glass window that transforms the daylight into beams of vivid color, the sticker on my pear, all exist because someone consciously conceived of them. However, this consciousness can be used beyond the creation of functional physical objects. It can be used for exquisite worldbuilding both within paintings and within one’s perception of daily life. I am interested in investigating how worldbuilding within the art object extends beyond the chosen surface and into one’s lived experience, potentially providing great healing.
Give us 3 keys, three keys to create from light and towards light.
- Learn to smile in the sweet way of a child. A smile from the soul is spiritual relaxation. A real smile is a thing of true beauty, the artistic work of the inner ruler, immortal.
- Consider: Would you give your mind, in its current state, over to govern the new world?
If the answer is no: Then why are you living with your mind in this way?
- Never go to sleep with a negative mind, for sleep is the doorway to the subconscious. Enter it with the state of mind of perfect health, abundance, contentment, and with your desired visions of the future, infused with joy.