"Gardening has taught me patience and reverence for the process of creation and the life cycle. Success comes from creative problem solving, attention on a daily basis, sticking with it and learning from mistakes. It's beautiful to see the stages of the plants’ life and then, with gratitude, enjoy the harvest. I am thankful for each growing season to connect with the world outside, the earth and all of the things that live on it."

Life is an ongoing series of miracles. Everyone has something to be thankful for or someone they should be saying “Thank You” to. Prayers, large and small, are answered daily, often without our recognition.

Ex voto is Spanish for votive offering. Ex votos are paintings offered to a deity or saint as a thank you for an answered prayer, or, as a form of prayer. Traditionally, the ex voto is signed by the petitioner, dated and explains why the giver is giving thanks. In many cases, they tell a very touching personal story. The personal nature of these stories is what makes them so fascinating. “These little artworks are painted out of gratitude for the miracles, protection and prayers answered not only in my life, but in what is common to so many of us,” says Cassandra Barney. “In conceiving these paintings, it didn’t seem that I was illustrating ideas, but sharing and exchanging them.”

Each ex voto celebrates the exceptional nature of the common and the uncommon: friendship, love, life, family and self. This collection is styled with the look of the Mexican tin-paneled works and designed to be hung in groupings. As gifts, they are the perfect message at the perfect time. Life is full of blessings and Cassandra Barney’s Ex Votos give us the opportunity to share our recognition of this with beauty and grace.