What is spirit art?
The modern-day term ‘Spirit Art’ has a specific meaning within the religion of Spiritualism, it is linked with evidential Mediumship. Spirit art is a form of mediumship where drawing or painting a portrait of someone who has died becomes part of the communication from the spirit world.
A medium is someone who through the unseen senses (Clair-senses) is able to communicate with energies outside the physical realm namely the spirit world (the afterlife according to Spiritualism). Mediumship is usually delivered in either a public setting (Divine Service or Spiritual Service) or within a private setting (Private Sitting or Private Reading).
Spirit Art is delivered by a medium and artist (Spirit Artist) who has developed the ability to draw portraits and bring forward verbal evidence from the spirit world of people who have passed over from this life.
We can understand this more deeply by looking at different ways artists and creative people work with inspiration and energy from the unseen world.
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What is a spirit artist?
A spirit artist in a broader sense of the term is an artist who feels and connects with the energy of the unseen world. The artistic ability gives form on paper or canvas to what is being perceived through the perception of the body, feeling through the emotion and imagery through the mind. The term can also simply mean someone who paints with love and spirit.
In the world of mediumship, a spirit artist may give a demonstration of evidential mediumship and draw an impression of a loved one allow that form and information to come through the hand onto paper or canvas.
If a spirit artist is giving a private session the focus could be evidential portrait or if the sitting was more spiritual guidance or assessment the spirit artist may use colour and symbology to convey information about people’s lives and potential they become aware of from the unseen world.
Spirit art, spirit drawing and spirit painting
Spirit art can take many forms depending on the artist. For some people it arrives as a quick drawing or sketch, for others it may become a detailed portrait or a painting developed over time. The important element is the connection behind the artistic expression, whether the image carries something recognisable, healing or meaningful for the person receiving it or the people viewing it. The artist is moved by the spirit of the unseen world during the creation of the work.
Inspired art
Many artists work with inspiration, moving their conscious mind aside to allow energy and thoughts that aren’t their own to come into their awareness and influence their paintings. In the spiritual world there are some wonderful examples of inspired art.
Georgiana Houghton
Georgiana Houghton was born in Spain in 1841 and moved to the United Kingdom then to Australia. She grew up as a Christian in Victorian England but moved to become a Spiritualist and medium who worked with her art and creativity creating amazing abstract ‘spirit drawings’.
Georgia was largely unrecognised within her lifetime but become well known after her death as inspired art was better understood by the mainstream. She worked with the natural flow of watercolours and then started with inspired art later moving into automatic drawing. She mainly took inspiration from nature and depicted the natural world but also used her mediumship to channel art from the spirit world. Over 150 of her drawings are available to view in the British Library in London.
She is quoted in saying “What I have striven to prove is that Spiritualism does not come in place of Christianity; for where would have been the gain in casting off that great joy and happiness, only to receive something else in exchange. What I maintain is that it is bestowed as the Crown to all previous knowledge.”
Hilma af Klint
Hilma af Klint was born in Sweden in 1862 and worked mainly with abstract art in her later career which became her signature style. She was admitted to the Royal College of Fine Art where she studied landscape and portrait painting. After leaving the Royal College she belonged to a group called ‘The Five’ who were a circle of women who believed in Theosophy, and all held shared belief in the importance of contacting higher masters from the spiritual realms.
After meeting Rudolf Steiner, he went to visit her in Stockholm but was unimpressed with her work. He felt that working with mediumship was akin to the occult and inappropriate for a Theosophist.
Her later works used various inspired artistic methods taking inspiration from Mother Nature and using automatic drawing. Her artwork is on display in Stockholm where over 1200 paintings were left to be managed by the Hilma af Klint Foundation.
Automatism
Automatic drawing works by the artist moving themselves into a state of relaxation in front of their easel and allowing a simple process of movement to happen. The artist allows their hand to move freely with the energy and influence of the feelings they are picking up in the moment. There is no fixed direction or conscious destination for the work, it is just allowed to unfold naturally.
I have written an in-depth post on Automatic Drawing: History, Practice and Spiritual Meaning
Prophetic art
The roots of prophetic art can be traced back to ancient cultures where art, and spiritual insight were combined. From religious art, indigenous symbolism and sacred iconography, creative expression was used to interpret dreams, omens and messages believed to come from beyond the physical world. Shamans, mystics and seers would translate inner experiences into visual form, as guidance for their followers and communities. This intuitive relationship between art and insight has remained, evolving over the centuries through different cultures and practices, all working to give shape to what is felt from the unseen world.
Prophetic art is the expression of insights which have not been fully realised in the physical world. The artwork is created from a space of heightened awareness, where the artist becomes receptive to impressions, symbols and energies that point towards potential futures and unfolding pathways. Prophetic art gestures towards what is yet to come and a sense of possibility, something that may not be completely understood, but reveal itself and deeper levels over time.
A prophetic artist is not predicting in a fixed way but tuning to the natural flow of energy and consciousness. The images, colours and forms that come forward in the artwork can act as markers or signposts which can offers guidance and a different perspective.
What is psychic artistry?
Psychic artistry is the use of artistic sensitivity to bring forward images, portraits or symbols through psychic awareness. In simple terms, it is art created through the intuitive senses connecting through the physical world to the energetic realm. A psychic artist may be reading the energy of a living person, a place or something from natures kingdom. Anything which has a physical presence and life on earth.
A spirit artist is working directly with the spirit world or unseen world. The two certainly overlap, but in modern day a clear distinction is made. A spirit artist is someone is connecting to loved ones who have passed away.
Psychic art started to really develop in the United Kingdom at the turn of the 20th century. It was thought at the time that a psychic artist would work with a medium. The artist would link in on a psychic level (Psychic or Psychism: a mind-to-mind connection between living people) to bring forward a portrait of someone who has died, and the medium would use their mediumship (Mediumship: a mind-to-mind connection between a living person and a dead person) to bring forward evidence and information from their life on earth.
Frank Leah
Frank Leah was born in 1886, he moved to Ireland and made Dublin his home. He had a successful career as an illustrator and portrait artist. In the 1930’s he started to draw portraits of people he saw in his mind’s eye. Friends and customers who visited his studio started to recognise the drawings as their loved ones who had died. He began to realise he was working with his clairvoyance (French for Clear seeing). He worked on his art and started to develop his mediumship becoming well known for the accurate drawings of people who had passed to the spirit world.
Coral Polge
Coral Polge was born in 1924 and had a career as a portrait artist. She explored an interest in Spiritualism and developed her attunement with the altered states of consciousness to become a successful Psychic Artist. In the 1980’s Coral Polge was working with a gentleman called Gordon Higginson and the pair would demonstrate psychic art and mediumship in Spiritualist Churches around the United Kingdom. They were known for accurate portraits and irrefutable evidence of people’s lives who had died and were related to members of the audience or congregation.
Psychic art and spirit art: what is the difference?
Over time the realisation came that a psychic artist was also connecting to the spirit world, hence the change of name from psychic artist to spirit artist.
The difference is in the source of the information. Psychic art works with the energy of a living person, place or situation. The art and drawing may include information about the person past, present and future potential. Spirit art works with communication from the spirit world and is evidential in nature, bringing forward information about someone’s life on earth before they passed away.
Both need sensitivity, both can be healing, and both can use colour, symbol and portraiture, but the intention and the source of the information are very different.
Spirit portraits and portrait readings
Spirit portraits are one of the most recognisable forms of spirit art and one of the most evidential within mediumship. When a demonstration or sitting takes place the spirit artist will connect to the spirit world. The likeness is important as it offers more proof of life after death, which is one of the primary reasons for mediumship in the eyes of Spiritualism. When the artist is working, the feeling and connection behind the image matters so the sitter or person in the audience can connect to the drawing, art can add a tangibility to the energy which is felt during the creation of the work.
An example of portrait readings would be a technique which I have developed as part of my work and teachings, we are using the portrait to map the mediumship. As the drawing of the loved one develops the artist/medium is drawing different aspects of the face which in turn offers deeper information about the loved one in the spirit world. For more on this please visit Spirit Art Training https://www.richardstuttle.com/spirit-art-and-platform-demonstration-training/
Precipitated art
This form of art was created entirely from the spirit world or through energy and matter manifested from the unseen world. A group of mediums would sit in a séance with a blank canvas and dimmed light. An image would materialise directly onto the canvas or paper without any physical contact from the mediums. This form or art was predominantly in the United States in the 19th Century. The art would have no brush strokes, be incredibly detailed look similar to pastel portraits. Many examples of this type of art can be found in Lily Dale, New York State.
The Bangs sisters
Mary and Elizabeth Bangs were born in 1827 and 1832 respectively in Kansas, their mother was a medium, so they were brought up understanding the spirit world and mediumship. In the 1870’s they were in Chicago and performing seances which included physical mediumship like slate writing and moving objects.
They became famous for precipitated portraits where they would sit in séance with several other sitters and the spirit portraits would appear on the canvas within minutes. Their paintings were incredibly detailed, and no brush strokes featured in any of the work. A curious point is that there were no eye lashes on any of the people in featured in the portraits. They lived and worked for many seasons from a house in Lily Dale, New York State.
The Campbell brothers
Allen B Campbell and Charles Shrouds weren’t brothers but worked together for many years in the early 19th century. They had a similar method as the Bangs sisters where the pair would sit in a darkened room with a number of other sitters and the portraits would appear on the canvas. The material which created the paintings came from the etheric world and was likened to the dust from a butterfly’s wing.
The portraits were very similar in style and again no brush strokes were present in the work. One of their more famous works was a manifested a painting of Abraham Lincoln, when the painting was analysed and there were certain elements found in the portrait that related to ailments that Lincoln had which wasn’t common knowledge.
What is spirit art in today’s world?
In today’s world artists have developed their mediumship and mediums have developed their portrait painting. Spirit Artists work with their mediumship to deliver accurate information about someone who has died alongside a portrait that resembles the person.
Mediumship and art are always developing and will continue to do so, for any spirit artist it is an exciting journey of discovery and development connecting with energy from the unseen and spirit worlds.
I hold monthly demonstrations of Spirit Art and Mediumship which are free to attend, please visit the webpage for more information and the next demonstration date https://www.richardstuttle.com/demonstration-of-spirit-art-and-mediumship/
Frequently asked questions
What is spirit art?
Spirit art is a specific form of mediumship with portrait art. Evidential spirit art is a drawing of a loved one from the spirit world accompanied by evidential mediumship. Within my work, spirit art is approached as a deeper connection to the spirit world, the recipient feels a presence and healing during the communication, we are not looking for perfection but something authentic to emerge through the energy of the moment.
What is a spirit artist?
A spirit artist is someone who works intuitively connecting directly to the spirit world, the creative process is guided by their connection. The artist becomes both creator and observer, trusting what wishes to unfold naturally.
Is spirit art the same as psychic art?
Spirit art and psychic art are closely connected but are not the same. Psychic art works through physical connection to living things within this reality which act as a starting point for the artist to create intuitive impressions. Spirit art is connecting directly to the spirit world and bringing forward a portrait of a loved one who has passed away.
What is psychic artistry?
Psychic artistry is the practice of using intuition, sensitivity, and inner awareness within the creative process. It may include colour, symbols, abstract forms and inspired expressions which carry a deeper meaning and relevance for the recipient or viewer.
What is a spirit portrait?
A spirit portrait is a mediumistic portrait created through a connection to a spirit person or energy from the unseen world. The portrait can often reflect feeling, personality, symbolism, and emotional resonance. Each piece becomes a unique interpretation shaped through the energy of the moment.
Can spirit art be a painting as well as a drawing?
Yes, spirit art can take many forms including drawing, painting, mixed media, colour work, automatism, and abstract expression. The medium itself is less important than the intention and connection behind the process. Spirit art is ultimately about allowing creative energy to move freely into form.
Do you need to be an artist to practise spirit art?
No, you do not need formal artistic training to explore spirit art. The practice is rooted in openness, trust, and personal expression rather than technical perfection. Many people discover that spirit art helps them reconnect with creativity, intuition, and a deeper sense of self.
Do you teach spirit art?
Yes, I teach spirit art as a creative and spiritual practice that encourages authenticity, intuition, and self-discovery. My approach supports people in developing confidence within their own creative language while exploring presence, feeling, and inspired expression. The focus is not on copying a style, but on discovering what naturally wishes to emerge through you.
Book Spirit Art Training
If you would like to explore spirit art in more depth, you can book Spirit Art Training with Richard here: https://www.richardstuttle.com/spirit-art-and-platform-demonstration-training/