The New Eleusinian Mysteries
By Ryan J. Bush, Ph.D.,
with a foreword by Frans Stiene, author of The Inner Heart of Reiki
248 pages, 94 full-color images
Available from Amazon, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and other retailers
Retail price: $80.00
Published by Beyond Editions in 2021
The New Eleusinian Mysteries
By Ryan J. Bush, Ph.D.,
with a foreword by Frans Stiene, author of The Inner Heart of Reiki
248 pages, 94 full-color images
Available from Amazon, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and other retailers
Retail price: $80.00
Published by Beyond Editions in 2021
The photographs start with my black-and-white Visions series of bare trees in winter, representing the state of ‘Wandering’, which ranges from our ordinary way of being (our ego, waking consciousness, monkey mind, grasping mind, and many other names), down to deeper levels of Wandering when we’re weighed down by fear, anger, sadness, pain, or other heavy emotions. Indeed, our whole world is lost and wandering, but it really is possible to wake up, become more fully aware and vividly alive, and learn to live far more effectively than we could ever imagine. The photographs represent this state of rebirth with color photographs from my Illumination series of trees in spring and summer.
“The symmetry and three-dimensionality give the images a kaleidoscopic patterning and eerie depth, with tree canopies converging in diamond, star-shaped, and spiral geometries that recede from the viewer. Bush’s photos, with their arresting mix of abstract spatial harmonies and vital, earthy textures, are a visual feast that many will enjoy. ”
The photographs start with my black-and-white Visions series of bare trees in winter, representing the state of ‘Wandering’, which ranges from our ordinary way of being (our ego, waking consciousness, monkey mind, grasping mind, and many other names), down to deeper levels of Wandering when we’re weighed down by fear, anger, sadness, pain, or other heavy emotions.
Indeed, our whole world is lost and wandering, but it really is possible to wake up, become more fully aware and vividly alive, and learn to live far more effectively than we could ever imagine. The photographs represent this state of rebirth with color photographs from my Illumination series of trees in spring and summer.
“The symmetry and three-dimensionality give the images a kaleidoscopic patterning and eerie depth, with tree canopies converging in diamond, star-shaped, and spiral geometries that recede from the viewer. Bush’s photos, with their arresting mix of abstract spatial harmonies and vital, earthy textures, are a visual feast that many will enjoy. ”
Duets of Poems and Photographs
By Virginia O. Bush, MA and Ryan J. Bush, Ph.D.
162 pages, 69 full-color images
Available from Amazon, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and other retailers
Retail price: $26.95
Published by Beyond Editions in 2021
A Singing Wire is a duet between my photographs and the poems of my mother, Virginia Bush, as our work indirectly influenced each other over the decades. While I had read her poems since I was young, it wasn’t until decades later that I realized how many similar themes there are between our work.
Some of these parallels are obvious in hindsight, like my photographs of overhead electric wires from my Compositions series, and her poem “Ligature” which says “The present is a singing wire / Each moment slips its shining noose around infinity, draws tight about a single point, and holds what is.” We also have shared a common interest in recurring subjects like trees and water, and we both have had a strong focus on finding the sacred hidden in the mundane, such as in the great majority of my photographs, and her poem “Song of the Holly Thicket”, which says that this thorny tangle “guards radiant stillness in its heart”.
In this book, images and text are presented on completely equal footing, rather than one overshadowing the other, as often happens when art accompanies poems, or when poems serve as inspiration for art. By structuring the book as duets between an artist and a poet, the book presents a model for how we can relate to each other in harmony and cooperation, combining our individual strengths into a greater whole, rather than the me-first approach focused on dominance and conflict, which unfortunately runs rampant in our modern world.
What others are saying about A Singing Wire:
"There is magic in this mother-son duet. The poems walk the earth, are heartbeat and the passion of memory. The images float, are luminous patterns, sensuous flower and plant forms, sky-lit trees. They sing in harmony or in contrapuntal melody. They delve deep into the mythic, rise high into the mystic where “each moment slips its shining noose/around infinity.” A Singing Wire is a wonder and an enchantment. Immerse yourself in it, your soul will thank you."
"The Bushes are imminently gifted in their respective crafts, and their collaboration resonates with an extreme generosity of spirit and a true desire to welcome people into a more expansive experience of the world—one that, like poetry or visual art, “is a human concern, one that should speak to a shared humanity.”
"By pairing poetry and photography, the written word and the visual image, A Singing Wire allows us to experience a rich emotional journey, with harmonies strengthened by the lifelong interaction of mother and son."
"Art making, while often a solitary endeavor, does not exist in a vacuum. This beautiful collaboration between poet and photographer, mother and son, artist and artist, is a poignant example of how seamlessly and successfully disparate art forms can combine to create something altogether new."
By Ryan J. Bush, Ph.D.,
with a foreword by Katherine Ware, Curator of Photography, New Mexico Museum of Art
108 pages, 55 full-color photographs
Available from Amazon, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and other retailers
Retail price: $65.00
Published by Beyond Editions in 2018
My first book, The Music of Trees, is a journey through three different ways of seeing, represented by three of my most iconic series of tree photographs, each of which played a seminal role in my growth as an artist.
The book starts with the Tree Portraits series, which is relatively close to how we usually see trees in real life, if we notice them at all. Next comes the Memoria photographs, evoking memory, dreams, and the imagination, and finally we reach the Multiple Visions series, which dives deep into the world of visionary consciousness, soul, and Oneness.
I have always been drawn to trees, since I grew up surrounded by trees in Michigan and Connecticut, and have drawn great comfort and inspiration from them ever since. Throughout my twenty-nine years as an artist, trees have always been my favorite subject to photograph, so it is only fitting that my first monograph is devoted to trees.
"With all the challenges we face in our modern, chaotic world, it is easy to get too distracted by materialism and superficiality, to be too daunted by obstacles, or to feel too busy to do more than just survive. So, we need as many reminders as possible that there is more to the world than meets the eye. Everything we need to know is whispered in the music of trees."
With how busy we are most of the time, and how caught up we are in our thoughts, activities, and distractions, we hardly notice the world around us, and we pass by incredible beauty every day without even noticing it.
So, I created the Tree Portraits series (2004-2007), as in the photographs shown above, to celebrate the natural beauty that’s hidden in plain sight everywhere around us. While the series starts relatively close to how we usually see trees, as separate individuals, I gradually found myself falling deeper in love with all the patterns, details, textures, and movement that I had never noticed before. In the process, I began to find my voice as an abstract photographer, setting me on a path I’ve been following ever since.
Meanwhile, the second series, Memoria (2011-2013), as in the photographs below, was the first time I started creating multiple exposure photographs. This series began after the death of my father, as I was thinking about the nature of memory to build up layers on top of itself, like a piece of paper that’s been written on over and over again. I was also listening to a lot of ‘looping’ music, which builds up complex layers of sound, so making multiple exposure photographs felt like the perfect solution — showing not the literal tree itself, but an experience of the tree, celebrating the immense complexity of our inner world of memories, dreams, and imagination.
After working on the Memoria series and having good success in galleries, museums, and other exhibitions, I was in a much more exuberant state of mind, so I decided to take the multiple exposure technique and work in color. The result was the final series in this book, Multiple Visions (2012-2013), shown below, which are large-scale works filled with vibrant, all-over patterns of color. For me, few things match the joy of standing in front of a tree, taking several photographs that get combined together in the camera, and ending up with a jewel-toned Abstract Expressionist symphony.
"The influence of music on the work is strong, and the artist seeks to bring a musicality to the visuals. This intention is evident in the images’ palpable internal tempo. These photographs resound with beats of movement and stillness, always conveying the sense of something captured but not arrested. A book of great vision and continuity, The Music of Trees orchestrates a journey from the admiration of beauty to a place that vibrates with its own internal frequency."
Throughout, this book points to a way of being, inspired by the quiet, resolute power of trees, that can help us meet any of life’s challenges. Such incredible beauty is waiting for us, whenever we choose to fully open our eyes, our curiosity, and our hearts.
When we slow down and listen to the music of trees, who knows what mysteries we will uncover?
The book includes a foreword by Katherine Ware, Curator of Photography at the New Mexico Museum of Art, and an introduction by Ryan J. Bush.
Available on Amazon and at select retailers.
