ART AND WHOLENESS

Hello everyone,

As summer approaches I find myself more energized and ready to jump into projects. This is nicely balanced with a desire to rest and take in the beauty of nature as it comes into its fullness. I’m always amazed at how nature knows what to do. It seems to surrender to the inherent order of things – when supported in the right ways it flourishes, and when it’s not it simply lets go.

In my Critical Discussion Groups we often consider a work of art in relationship to wholeness. To me, nature seems to embody this wholeness as a matter of course.

In this month’s blog post I’m considering this aspect of wholeness, as it relates to our creative process. When we’re connecting with the more intrinsic nature of art-making we find solace, respite, and a deep profound purpose in what we create and what it asks of us as we make it. A perfect and beautiful union. 

And just a reminder that my monthly blog post is also offered as an audio recording, allowing you to listen rather than read. To listen to the recording just click on the READ MORE OR LISTEN button in the ‘FROM THE BLOG’ section of this newsletter and you’ll find the MP3 file on my website at the bottom of my written post.

If you have any feedback for me, I always love hearing from you. Thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter…it truly is appreciated.

PS: For those of you that are new subscribers I have included a link to find previous issues of my newsletter – full of additional resources for you!

FROM THE BLOG

WHOLENESS

Kristin Neff is a leader in the study of self-compassion and its value in helping us to find more confidence and ease in our lives, relationships, and work. She tells us that suffering is a universal human experience, and something we all share. In fact, research shows that self-compassion towards our suffering is one of the most powerful ways we can heal ourselves, by strengthening our inner resilience and acceptance. 

Many of us were broken by others, even right from the beginning – from birth. Throughout our lives we may have come to believe we had to be different from who we are to be loved, accepted, and safe. We learned that others saw us as flawed, wrong in some meaningful way, and as a result we felt broken or incomplete. We lost connection with our wholeness as a result. 

Our healing comes through returning to this wholeness, by coming to know that we were not responsible for others happiness. We were not born with that as our purpose. We were born in wholeness…pure and receptive to what is being offered through life and the experiences we encounter. This wholeness is everyone’s birthright…and yet, it is so easily negated through the hardship of life.

As others molded us through their actions and inactions, we molded ourselves into the versions that made sense with what we knew, and what we thought they wanted us to be. We survived by being what others needed us to be, so we could be lovable and, in some cases, to simply be safe from harm. By taking these actions – which were necessary acts of self care – we were not able to truly love ourselves, and this broke our inherent wholeness. We had to break the wholeness by having to make this choice. And, with help, we can return to wholeness once more. Because it is what we already are. 

In contemplating this concept of our inherent wholeness, a question arose for me: what if an artist’s pursuit and purpose in their work was for this wholeness to be witnessed, felt, understood? What if we artists are looking for that visual, experiential moment to help us remember wholeness?

INSPIRATION FOR YOUR ARTIST’S MINDSET

A FATHER, A MOTHER AND A CHILD : KAARINA KAIKKONEN

Finnish artist Karrina Kaikkonen has a deep desire to help others and to know herself through her work. In this video she shares how the symbolism inherent in materials and forms give voice to feelings that make up our human experience, and that she longs to understand and express.

Kaikkonen often uses the phrase in this interview “When I changed my life into art” and this seems to express how deeply she embodies her practice, as she trusts it to guide her. In her sculptures and expansive installations made from recycled materials, Kaikkonen processes much of her personal suffering and feelings through her work. This approach helps her understand her experience, with the resulting work becoming a form of self-portrait.

“All my art is about the existence as a human being and the feelings.” As she shares her work through large scale, immersive installations, she entices the viewer with a type of poignant beauty. Kaikkonen sees the viewer as an artist themselves as they consume the work and make their own interpretations. It’s about the dialogue between the work and the audience.

“Every piece of art can change the world a little bit, and this helps me to accept myself as an artist.”

THE NUMBING VIBRANCY OF CHARACTERS AT PLAY : JADÉ FADOJUTIMI

British painter Jadé Fadojutimi is a young artist who employs a vibrant visual language through her direct and bold applications of paint. She experiences the paint as assuming characters and moving between states of forming and dissolving.

Fadojutimi utilizes reflective writing to distill the complexity of her abstract work. A quote from the PEER Gallery write-up for this interview articulates this aspect of her process so well:

Writing plays a large part in Fadojutimi’s creative process, sometimes as a way to articulate abstract thought about the complexity of her practice, and sometimes in parallel to her painting where words take on multiple lyrical or poetic meanings. Like her paintings, the writing is often highly charged, unrestrained and revealing of raw emotion. Fadojutimi likens her painting to gazing out of a window, the surface is both transparent – looking outward, and reflective – in which she sees herself fused into and part of her environment.

FOROTHERMORE : NICK CAVE

In this video created for his exhibition ‘Forothermore’, American sculptor Nick Cave discusses his art-making process and its relationship to processing despair by balancing it with joy.

Art was a way for Nick to process an early loss of his father and, more recently, he addresses many of our human frailties and struggles by building what he calls “second skins” or “sound suits” – a form of protection or shielding.

Through his work, Cave invites us to ask ourselves “What matters, and why am I here right now?” Art helps us to define who we are and what we value.

OFFERINGS FOR ARTISTS

THE 30 DAY SKETCHBOOK CHALLENGE COURSE!

The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course is an affordable, content rich, self-guided course that can be started at any time, and is always available for purchase on my website.

Once purchased you’ll have lifetime access to the course and can repeat the Challenge at any time in the future, giving your art-making the boost it might need.

This course also touches on many of the essential aspects of the Artist’s mindset – the ways we can think about and approach our creative work to move past fear and limitations, opening to what is possible for us.

You can find out more about The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course HERE.

You can also email me at info@insightcreative.ca with your questions or for more info.

THE GIFT OF SHARING

For new subscribers – please enjoy these previous issues of my monthly newsletter. Thank you for subscribing!

Links to additional back issues can be found on the right sidebar of my blog HERE

If you know of any artists that could benefit from these monthly newsletters and/or my 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Course, please share this email with them and invite them to have a look. They’ll receive my free PDF download on ‘How to Make a Creativity Journal’ when they do.

STRONGER TOGETHER

Art-making is such a personal experience, always calling us forth and asking us to be more of ourselves, to trust more deeply and to show up for the work.

When we develop a healthy and resilient attitude towards the struggles we may be facing, we feel more balanced and set ourselves up for success.

I hope this newsletter gives you some tools to help guide yourself towards more trust and awareness around your creative process.

Thanks for being here…wishing you abundant creativity today and every day!
Warmly,
Cheryl Taves
info@insightcreative.ca