Seven Questions with Chakra Mural Artist Ryan Orewiler
Columbus Monthly
Ryan Orewiler, now 46, turned to art as a teenager to escape from pain and difficult experiences. He’s been making art ever since, and it’s in keeping with the Columbus College of Art & Design grad’s history that his latest work, a brightly-colored, 76-foot-long, 20-foot-high abstract mural painted on a long wall off a Mound Street parking lot, is aimed at helping others heal.
The work, which he conceptualized in collaboration with Darsy Amaya, a fellow artist and a reiki master, is entitled “Chakra Mural.” Orewiler turned to Amaya last year to help improve his well-being. Amaya, like Orewiler, has a studio at 400 West Rich in Franklinton. Through conversations and reiki sessions, a therapy that involves light touch, Orewiler learned about the chakras an ancient Sanskrit word used by yogis and others to designate energy centers in the body.