Robert and Su.Sane Hake are visionary artists who collaborate under the name Clarity.  They see see art making --painting, writing, teaching -- as a connection to a higher realm.  Their artistic works are visible messages from the sacred.

        Their paintings can consist of intricately worked abstract patterns which they believe have an affect on our unconscious processing as well as figurative paintings which are designed to help people connect with a time and place to evoke a joyful or peaceful shift in one's inner mood and perspective.

        The Hakes see no separation between God and creativity.  All of their work is designed to stimulate playful or creative responses.  "Artists play with what they're doing, art is adventure, says Robert, "and it's built in for children  When people get older, creativity doesn't doesn't have much value.  People's inner selves take a back seat.  It's only supposed to come out on the weekends, maybe if you can get around to it.  When life becomes more creative, you become passionate about your life and aligned with who you really are."

           They see the Divine in every toy because toys connect people to childhood, "that time when you play and the whole world falls away. When you see or play with a toy you travel back to that time, get closer to yourself and that time in your life. It’s a healing place where the world’s judgment falls away — so that you can know yourself better".  Su notes that by the time kids become adults they are frequently the last person they trust. "So much has happened to cause us to become on guard, to be full of patterns not really us.  We don't even know ourselves.  You have to un-peel so many false patterns to get to your own spun gold."  Trusting oneself is a critical element of being able to think imaginatively and creatively, particularly in an increasingly complicated world. "How do you know that is the real place of you?  How do you know what thoughts are real and what thoughts aren't real?"

        Toys are frequently used in their work, particularly their assemblages, as a means of stimulating creativity, imagination, openness, curiosity and simplicity.    These elements of life are at their peek in childhood.  By using toy pieces they hope people can quickly return to that place before issues of the outer world began building on them.  "People think it's an indulgence to remember their tales, their childhood, but that's when they were most in touch", says Robert.  "We use primary colors because they penetrate the mind faster."

         "...For this couple, art is still as firmly wedded to human spirituality as it was for our tribal ancestors. It does not exist in some independent aesthetic realm, but is connected to who we are and what we are, both as individuals and also as people.
         If prolific Howard Finster (1916-2001) had his paradise Gardens in Georgia, the Hakes have their house on Park Street, the contents of which are as astonishing as anything Finster created.  It is filled with Children's toys, hundreds upon hundreds of little figures among them, examples of which are to be seen in their assemblages in this show.
        The artists see the use of toys as a way of reconnecting oneself to earlier times – a time of imagination, openness, and authenticity. It is a deliberate search for childlike simplicity, which should not be mistaken for childishness. For them it is a life principle. 
        The result is a collection of colorful and joyful paintings and assemblages, slightly eccentric in the sense that they seem at odds with the grimness of daily life, but aimed good and true at the undefeated innocent nature that remains in any of those fortunate enough not to have lost it.
        'Salvador Dali meets Romper Room' could describe the work." (Courier-Gazette, 6/12/08)  
 

       Their work with abstract patterns takes longer, is more serious for them, and comes from a deeper place than their (toy) assemblages and soft sculpture.   They believe their patterns can take people to a place where each person’s soul can relate to the spiritual patterns and messages in the art. A place where "the Divine Self can work with why you are here, what you are doing, what you’re about" and "where you can see yourself outside of what the world says and shift out of (self) limitation".

        The Hakes have been working together as a team for 20 years.  Before this, Su.Sane had an early brush with fame via a business she started as a way to bring in some extra money to a family farm while she was at home raising five children. She grew herbs and flowers which she dried, arranged,  and used to make wreaths and other decorative objects.

        With the encouragement of then Governor’s wife, Phyllis George Brown,  Su.Sane was soon selling her work to celebrities. We love hearing that Andy Warhol loved her pot pouri.   Eventually, her beautiful hats decorated with dried flowers and ribbons become an icon in brochures for the state of Kentucky. The state even sent Su.Sane’s work as a gift to Princess Diana when she married.

        Su.Sane’s business — Valley Hill — grew  250 varieties of herbs and flowers on 12 acres, had been featured in Southern Accents and several other national magazines including Better Homes & Gardens.  Valley Hill became the largest employer in the area. "It was a Cinderella story for the State" notes Su. But, a materialistic approach to her business by others eventually caused her to decide that her life needed to change.

        Robert was already selling his art when he met Su.  He had been intrigued by his artistic experiences- "once it’s (art) selling, it has it’s own synergy, rotating and moving and carrying the artist along."  He pursued metaphysical studies and became interested in gems and gem elixirs, and about the properties of energy  and "what they could do for people". One week he announced to no one in particular "I want to find the rest of me." The next week he met Su.Sane when he attended a metaphysical fair where Su.Sane was selling flower essences. she had grown on the farm.  Shortly beforehand, a book on Gem elixirs had fallen on Robert’s head—as books do sometimes when they want your attention—and he saw the same book out of the corner of his eye at Su.Sane’s booth.  Initially skeptical with her flower essences, Su.Sane  challenged his thinking.  Robert says with twinkly eyes, "I knew".  About meeting him, Su.Sane says, "There was a wholeness, I knew immediately, we heard the same sounds, it was the same voice—I recognized it".

        They began working with a shaman together and instantly began channeling art at the same time. They say together they drew things they’d never created individually and that this happened very quickly. A process soon unfolded which they describe: