This is me working in my studio. I was preparing work for a furniture and home accessories boutique in Dallas, Texas. It’s so wonderful to get to work in such a beautiful space that is nestled under the pecan trees in my backyard. On this day I was creating wax paintings on solid wood squares.

A feast for the eyes and peace for the soul. The first look at footage from the groundbreaking art film Peace Pilot.

This handmade deck of tarot cards emphasizes the problems of modern society and serves as a warning for ones future in it. It cleverly distinguishes knowledge from ignorance, social progress from reversion, dominance from submission, and presence from absence. If Andy Warhol were alive he would own one.

Old patterns, oil paint, vintage wall paper and highly textural surfaces are pieced together with images of the human figure and other visual metaphors to make the viewer feel at home in this world and to begin to distinguish the amazing from the unknown.

In Italy, art and life intermingle effortlessly. On a recent trip I decided to record the effortless beauty available at every step and around every corner. Una volta!

Wilderness is a proven incubator for growth. When you go through hard times you are going through a wilderness. In many different versions of mythology the hero often finds herself in full career of a transformation, smack dab in the middle of a wilderness, a place that Webster states is an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region. In other words, a place never before experienced.

Peace Pilot is a monumental video art installation by Dallas artist Trayc Claybrook.
The installation is comprised of four (4) Color High Definition video & sound
triptychs, each five minutes in length, featuring an “every-person” character in
metaphoric environments which represent the hero’s journey towards personal,
communal, and global transformation and peace. The films are moving paintings of
light, designed to be projected on natural and architectural spaces.

What is Peace Week 2012?

Peace Week 2012 is a week-long celebration of peacemaking featuring the world
premiere of Peace Pilot, projected on the exterior and interior walls of the Interfaith
Peace Chapel in Dallas, Texas; a modern masterpiece by acclaimed architect Philip
Johnson. The event will take place over a period of five days culminating with
a large community celebration of music, meditation and education supporting
International Peace Day, September 21, 2012. Events will include classroom
curriculum and lessons on peacemaking, plus visits to the exhibition for school
children, as well as interfaith spiritual practices, musical performances, and
meditation sessions for the community. The lighting of the projections will
commence at a festive VIP gala and media preview, where all four sides of the
Interfaith Peace Chapel will become video screens, illuminated with the images of
Peace Pilot on a continuous loop. The interior of the Peace Chapel will be arranged
as a meditation space, with the four videos playing sequentially. Funds raised by
the event will sponsor local community peacemaking efforts, as well as efforts
to continue Peace Week in 2013. The day-long celebration on September 21,
International Peace Day, will be open to the public.

Why Peace Pilot and Peace Week? An Artist Statement by Trayc Claybrook

Peace begins within. Until we can find that quiet, still place that lives inside of each
of us, peace will remain elusive and misunderstood. Violence in the world only
reflects our own inner turmoil. I use to think peace building required a certain
status of saintliness or a Nobel Peace Prize or tortured activism. But I came to know
my own peace through examining my inner turmoil. Through love, meditation,
prayer and art, I found a way to make peace with myself and the events happening
in the world. My peace came through my films, my friends, and my family. Each
of us must find a path that resonates and leads us to a higher place. We must all
do our part to make peace with darkness. We can each have an impact on peace,
great or small, regardless of who we are and what our role is in the world. It’s not
about being big or famous. It’s about choices. It’s what you do in your corner of the
Universe. We do it one action at a time, both large and small things we do every day
to bring more light into this world.
We are the new face of peace. This is not your mother’s anti-war movement.
We are thousands, or millions of peace builders practicing and advocating for

a new worldview, one that is deeply holistic and sustainable in its perspective.
It acknowledges a deeply interconnected planet and Universe…a Oneness. It
is created from the inside out and the outside in. Let us start here in our own
community, with great love for one another, and work together to transcend war
and violence. Let us champion this effort to reveal and solidify a growing wave of
humanity reaching hungrily and energetically for effective non-violent solutions and
peace on the earth.

Who is Trayc Claybrook?

Trayc Claybrook is an artist, filmmaker, and peace builder. She is recognized for
her distinctive narrative approach to painting, and has transcended mediums by
using the camera and the video screen as a canvas. Her latest work is the meditative
Peace Pilot, four monumental-scale High Definintion video and sound triptychs that
reflect on the hero’s search for transformation and peace.

For over 16 years, she has worked in visual effects, video, and the visual arts,
and she has an extensive background in painting, printmaking, book making, and
graphic design. Her paintings and films have been recognized with awards and have
been showcased in exhibitions across the U.S. Claybrook uses painting and video
to explore ideas about personal transformation, spirituality and the unfolding of
consciousness through universal human experiences. Her influences are rooted
both in Eastern and Western spiritual practices, including Buddhism, Christianity,
Shamanism and Humanism. Using the language of dreams and memories, she opens
a door to each individual viewer to find themselves and their own experiences
within her work, and invites each to see the work in a unique, personal way.

Claybrook received her BFA in printmaking at The Kansas City Art Institute and
her MFA in painting and graphic design from Texas Woman’s University. She is
currently working towards her PhD in Art, Aesthetics and Technology from the
University of Texas at Dallas. She is professor of Digital Filmmaking in the BFA
program at the Art Institute of Dallas. She is mother to twelve year old son Furious
McKissick.

Old patterns, oil paint, vintage wall paper and highly textural surfaces are pieced together with images of the human figure and other visual metaphors to make the viewer feel at home in this world and to begin to distinguish the amazing from the unknown.

A girl, a guy, and a mailbox. This is one sweet love triangle.

The prairies of North Texas are an austere landscape.  On the wide, flat terrain, man-made towers of concrete and steel become our forests, a freeway interchange our Grand Canyon, the sky our ocean.  Bronze award winner, 2008 Worldfest Houston International Film Festival.