ESSAY TWENTY - OUR ARTISTIC MEMORY

In the previous essay, I suggested that there might be two types of memory. The everyday type of memory that is first developed in our very early years and refined in school has many uses, but it is also misunderstood. It is great for recalling past data or processes, but it is not very effective in what we think as “problem solving”. Because this memory deals with data already learned, it can limit us from “thinking outside of the box”. It has been observed many times, that if a hammer is the only tool you have, everything looks like a nail. The other memory, which I referred to as Psychic Memory, is harder to quantify, but it can be a powerful tool, especially for the artist.

One way of differentiating the two types is to draw an analogy. In a much earlier essay, we talked about analytical learning styles, which is the logical, linear type of instruction/learning featured in schools and vocational training programs. In a less formally structured way, this type of “problem solving” progresses from a myriad of small data bits, which we then form into larger cognitive structures called information (instead of data). When enough information is available, a strategy or plan of action can be formed, and we are able to move towards a solution or a mental framework that makes “sense” of the problem we face. As this process occurs, our conscious, aware, mind constantly scans the process, fine-tuning and directing it towards ever more precise and detailed conclusions. If successful, we can feel that we have solved the problem that was presented, and we have been active in and aware of the entire process.

The second form of memory, or psychic memory operates much more like intuitive learning and decision-making than it does analytical learning. When we utilize intuitive problem solving, on some preconscious level we may be collecting and storing data, but the type and the scope of the data collected is not a completely conscious activity, nor is it consciously direct. Unlike analytical problem solving, during which we are actively collecting as much information as possible, intuitive data gathering takes place outside of our active and focused control. Wandering, daydreaming, “wool gathering” and moments of relaxed and unfocused meditation are the fertile grounds for building a reservoir of intuitive data. Rather than an active quest, it is a passive quest – remember, “All Who Wander Are Not Lost”.

As the data is processed, and often right up to the moment of “intuitive insight” (or decision making), much of the intellectual processing takes place “out of sight” of our conscious awareness. While we may be aware of our sudden insight, (the light bulb going on over our head) we may not have any idea at all, as to how we arrived at this inspiration.

Just as in Intuitive learning, psychic memory has a similar manifestation. The process, the orientation and the mechanisms by which it works are not usually visible to our mind’s eye, but we can train ourselves to be aware of the results, and to understand their implications for us. Most importantly, we can develop an attitude that recognizes intuition as a strength that is the equal of analysis. For working artists, psychic memory has the potential to be a fertile field, and one that can produce a bountiful harvest.

Before continuing, this psychic memory that I have mentioned is just a hypothesis, but one that seems to explain a great deal. It is clear that our personality, attitudes, mind-set and approach to everything we do in life is unique and highly individualized. It affects the way we think, what we value, and probably how we live our lives. It is also clear that this unique set of personal traits is set by environment (or life forces) at least as much (if not more than) genetic and biological determinism. The assumption that I will be making is that one of the external factors that help us form our “selfness” is psychic memory.

They are our cumulative memories and awareness’s of persons, places, incidents and ideas that became one of our psychological building blocks. Why one memory is more important than another and how a particular memory accomplishes its impact is unknown. There are, however, some good reasons to feel that this does take place and significantly, it opens up some productive artistic avenues. Psychic Memory is not the type of memory to be preserved and then accessed for our usable memory bank. It is a memory more deeply buried, which serves as a marker or beacon, illuminating a psychic intersection. Just as a highway intersection represents a set of choices, our psychic intersections are decision points in our development – they are moments when we made a “choice” about who we are or who we were about to become. The memories associated with and linked to these “moments of truth” are powerful and laden with creative insights for us to explore.

In Essays Thirteen through Sixteen, we discussed Image Stories, which I described as personal stories that are always tickling our consciousness and seem to be with us on a regular basis. While superficially they do not seem to be memories of great importance, they evidence a power and a hold on our awareness. My premise is that our Image Stories are created and nurtured by our Psychic Memory and as artists, we need to not only honor them but to use them in our creative process. The following essays will deal with utilizing Images, Stories and ideas from your Psychic Memory. As always, feel free to leave comments or to e-mail me directly with ideas, suggestions or reactions.

ESSAY SIXTEEN – IMAGE STORY PART THREE

The past few essays have dealt with a discussion of Image Stories, which are clear and powerful personal narratives that occurred in the past. Usually they are not great moments in time or life altering events such as births, deaths, weddings, and relocations, but seemingly ordinary events that have the strange property of constantly re-emerging into your consciousness. Often their seeming ordinariness is what makes them puzzling, for they do not have any obvious reason for being so powerful and evocative.

It is my premise that these stories hold powerful personal truths, and can be the source of many artistic creations. Rather than approaching them intellectually and analytically, we need to view them intuitively and symbolically. They are not a biology class frog, to be carefully dissected, but deeply imbedded personal images that must be allowed to enter our consciousness, freely and unfettered by our preconceptions and mental censors.

I am going to present the following exercises in visual terms, but for those who are writers, dancers, poets and musicians, I encourage you to respond both visually as well as through forms that seem more intuitive. As a matter of simple truth for all of us, the greater number of your senses you bring to bear on any problem or activity, the deeper the experience is likely to be. It is important to remember, however, that these should be done spontaneously, without trying to be technically proficient and certainly with no intent to create a “work of art”.

If you have not recently read the Image Story essays, preceding this entry, it might be helpful to re-read them before continuing.

Your first step is to “open-up” your Image Story, in your mind, and let it fill your awareness. Don’t try to analyze it, just enjoy.

The second step is to insure that you yourself are an active participant in the narrative – don’t be the narrator or the third person storyteller.

Now let the narrative “have its head” – allow it to go where it wants, don’t lead, but follow in the moment. If it seemingly is going in a direction that is new, wrong, or different from what “really happened”, don’t stop, but go along for the ride. In other words, allow yourself to re-live the experience, as it happened long ago

After you feel the story has temporarily run its course, you might want to allow some of the following questions to speak:

WHAT PERSONAL TRUTHS ARE SUGGESTED?

WHAT KINDS OF RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPLIED?

WHAT ARE YOUR SATISFACTIONS?

WHAT PERSONAL QUALITIES ARE REWARDED?

WHAT ARE THE INCOMPLETIONS YOU HAVE REALIZED?

WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ASKED?

WHAT NEW DIRECTIONS DO YOU SENSE BEING SUGGESTED?

WHAT NEW INSIGHTS INTO SELF ARE BEING MANIFESTED?

Open a sketchbook to a blank page, and again think of your Image Story. Let it wash over you and become immersed in its power. After a few moments, do two or three quick sketches (thirty seconds to a minute each) of whatever pops into your mind while experiencing your story. These sketches should not be detailed, nor will they be realistic. Now, by letting your mind free associate, think of six or eight words or phrases that also “belong” on the page. Remember, quick and intuitive - don’t plan, and don’t try to be clever or insightful – just an honest, first response. Lastly, get one or two of your colored drawing tools, and express the mood or emotion that you feel, but only with color. This will be beneficial, even if you feel you are not a visual artist, but a writer, dancer etc. You also should feel free to portray your responses in any additional expressive form that seems appropriate.

Now, turn to a blank page, and do the same “story” again, but do it with your eyes closed. You may lay out your required materials on the table, but do not look at all from the time you first start to the time you are finished (three or four minutes per page. Don’t peek, don’t simplify to make it easier, and please don’t worry about layout, neatness or composition. You are not creating a signed work that is to be framed or sold, but starting to set up some free association links between your hand and brain. If you are writing or dancing, do that also with your eyes closed.

Do this for three or four Image Stories. The quicker you can work, and the more you can work without visually insuring that everything “comes out all right”, the more productive you will be. For most of us, there is always a part of our consciousness that worries a great deal about us getting out of control and making “a fool of our self.” The various disciplines of psychology have different names for this “censor”, but as artists, we need to be especially concerned, because this is the part of our mind that doesn’t want us being artists in the first place. When you work with your eyes closed, you are eliminating one of the strongest self-censoring mechanisms you have.

You are creating these images to explore how you react to your own ideas, and to start giving yourself permission to create visual shortcuts, symbols and abstractions for your ideas. By eliminating traditional subject matter and minimizing explanatory words, we are also cutting down on the influence of our censor - it knows how to control things that are analytical. It is hopelessly naive when it comes to free form.

While later on we will discuss a variety of ways that you can start to incorporate your Image Stories into your work, it would be helpful as you go to “play with it “ now. Don’t make this hard work, and don’t agonize over it, but every time you allow yourself to get lost in your images, also allow yourself to play with what ever media makes you feel comfortable. You are not creating a masterpiece, you don’t have to show this to a soul, and you certainly shouldn’t be concerned with your technical skills. Play. Play not as an adult, who worries about first learning the rules of the game, but play like a child who is totally immersed in activity, and that doll, or truck, or cardboard box is all that is important in the entire universe. Play like those French students played basketball.

We have taken a first step. The next essay will talk a bit about the Caloosa Indians, and following essays will give you additional tools to start giving form to what you are discovering within yourself. Again, I invite your comments.

ESSAY FIFTEEN Image Story Part Two

You’ll love the view from

INSPIRATION POINT

When I was a child, my family traveled by car over a great part of the U.S. - I had been to almost all of the States by the time I was eighteen. These vacations involved a great deal of driving, and the trips often lasted weeks. I cannot in all honesty say that I have clear and separate memories of each place we visited; many of the memories are bits and fragments. There are a few, however, that are as clear today as they were then.

When we lived in New York City, I remember visiting a kind of mansion or private castle up in New England, with very elaborately carved wooden doors and when you turned the doorknobs, all sorts of “things” on the door moved. Each door was a complexity of levers; animal and plant carvings, shapes and designs, and all were mobile. I have no idea what the rest of the building was like, but those doors are as real and kinetic today as they were when I was a preteen. Another memory was of visiting a thundering waterfall that plummeted into a dark cave-like hole at its base, and then vanished without a trace. I also remember being somewhere on a bay or sound in one of the Western States during a period when there had been a freak low tide (an ebb tide?) and when we got there, the entire bottom of the bay was exposed for miles - an enthralling glimpse of a forbidden, barnacle and weed encrusted, slimy desert. Boats sitting in the muck, tied to docks fifteen feet above them, standing on tall, spindly legs, anchored in that same muck. A watery door had briefly opened giving me a view of things never before seen.

I don’t specifically remember the locations, and by the time I asked my parents about them (years later) they could not even remember the incidents (my father thought the low tide might have been in Puget Sound in Washington). The memories, the wonder, and the magic that these places (and a few others not mentioned) engendered in me are still real today. Nobody else in my family remembers those wonderful doors (I have a hunch they were somewhere in New Hampshire or Connecticut), and I probably could not find them today if I had to. The point is, I don’t have to because I have this wonderful memory, and I suppose that I am a bit afraid to compare my image with the “reality” I might discover. We went to many other more spectacular places such as Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, The Badlands and Meteor Crater, and I remember them also. They were great, I am glad we went, but they are not magic - they were regular wonderful memories we all have, concerning something we did. These special memories are far more intense and they feel that they live deep inside of me – They feel as if they were places I was meant to visit.

These incidents are my special memory, and in my adult life, I realized that I needed to discover why they are so important. My whole family remembers walking to the top of the Statue of Liberty, but only I own that waterfall. What I remember about those places is probably not the actuality of the place but the super actuality they had. They were more than what they really were; they had a presence that transcended their physical nature. To me, they are not real locations, they are mythic, magic and marvelous, they are special because they are really not knowable. If the real doors were truly spectacular, then the rest of my family would have remembered them, and they would be part of some advertised tourist attraction today.

Let me give you an example of how these Image Stories have entered my art. Many of my black and white photograph deal with rock formations, crevasses, cave openings, and fallen objects that almost but not completely form a blockage. In all of these structures, what has always intrigued me, were the small slits, cracks, and portals that allowed light to enter or pass through. Several years ago, I hung an exhibit of my photography, and its title was “Holes in the Fabric – A Portal to What is Beyond”.

Last year, several writers and I collaborated on a contemporary interpretation of the Greek Play, “The Trojan Women”, that was a rather free form mélange of acting, dance and spoken word. In a bull session, one of the other writers pointed out to me that virtually every scene I wrote revolved around doors. After the fall of Troy, the Trojan Women are locked in a guarded room to await their fate:

A door is such a simple thing. It’s an accessory to a hole in the wall. It opens, it closes. That’s all it does. A door is a hole in the wall, interuptus. Yes, such a simple thing. A hole, with a wooden flap, on a hinge, with a lock . . . and a key. A key? He who controls the key, controls the portal.

I have since gone back, and a great deal of my artistic output over the years - photography, sculpture and writing have been greatly influenced by these Image Stories of mine. They deal with doors, openings and uncovering secrets. Perhaps my motivation for writing ArtQuest is to offer my readers an entrée into the world of creative self-expression.

In Essay Sixteen, (the third segment of Image Story); I’ll present some exercises that may help you discover how your stories can be visualized. As always, I welcome your comments and observations, and if any of you have IMAGE STORIES that you would like to share, I would love to add them to this series of essays.

ESSAY FOURTEEN – Finding the Image Story

In the previous essay, I talked about something I called the Image Story. As I mentioned, while we have millions of memories stored away in our minds, there seem to be some stories that are different. Rather than merely being recollections of incidents or bits of data, they seem to be strangely important – often far out of proportion to the facts, incidents and people surrounding them. My belief is, that these memories, or Image Stories are important in helping us to become the artist we wish to be.

As you are able to start letting these images into your consciousness, it is only natural to wonder what you are suppose to do with them. Your goal is to incorporate them into your creative awareness, because they contain some of your most fertile seeds - they will supply many new possibilities and suggest many new directions for dance, music, visual art and writing.

STEP ONE: Allow the memory in. You are not required to know anything about it, explain it, justify it, rationalize it or add anything to it. I t is already complete - it needs nothing from you, you need something from it. Resist the temptation to analyze or make the moment productive. Just let it in and enjoy it.

Notes: The goal here is understanding, not information gathering in the traditional sense. Understanding is an internal process, while information gathering is external. To get information, facts are collected, organized and then broken down into discreet bits of data that are then analyzed and framed into a conclusion. This type of organization is great if you are attempting to explain the human digestive processes, the mechanics of a super-nova or even how to calculate long term Capitol Gains. We are not interested in information about our Image Stories, but rather learning how to listen and honor them, for that is a path towards wisdom.

STEP TWO: Establish yourself into the Image. Do not sit outside being a neutral observer, but become the participant you were when the memory/image/story originally took place. You are not interested in an analysis of the details, but an awareness of the moment. Feel it, rather then dissect it.

Notes: There is a branch of advanced physics called Quantum Mechanics that studies extremely small particles of matter and their properties. Scientists are very interested in determining the precise location and the precise speed of these particles, because, since they can’t be seen, that knowledge would go far in explaining much about them. What they have discovered, however, is that the more accurately you determine the particles’ position, the more your actual observation makes it impossible to determine speed (velocity). The act of direct observation of location affects speed in unpredictable ways, and vice versa. This is known as The Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.

In a manner of speaking, direct, intense examination of our own Image Stories also changes them into something far less powerful. Our goal is to feel them, let them envelop us and hopefully to fully experience them. It is not their factual properties that give them their power, and it is not analysis that will release their light. In Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice journeys through a mirror into Looking Glass Land, and she discovers that the only way to approach something is to walk in the opposite direction. If she insisted upon directly approaching something, soon it was so far away as to be no longer visible. Sometimes, the harder we concentrate on a problem, the harder it is to solve. Remember dear old Doctor Heisenberg – maybe he had a relationship with Alice? Are there any doctoral students in Physics out there, looking for a thesis topic?

STEP THREE: Find out where it takes you. As you allow yourself to become more immersed in the mind image you have welcomed, feel the different responses to it you are experiencing. It may not be just pleasant memories - there are questions, puzzles, mysteries, and perhaps danger here. In all probability, there are two different levels of dialogue taking place - one level dealing with satisfaction and reward, and the second, and deeper level, embracing insights as to who you are and where you might be going.

WHAT PERSONAL TRUTHS ARE SUGGESTED?

WHAT KINDS OF RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPLIED?

WHAT ARE YOUR SATISFACTIONS?

WHAT PERSONAL QUALITIES ARE REWARDED?

These images reward us, and sanctify our existence. They are with us constantly because the chord they play resonates on the basic sounding board of our soul. These are the images that convey to us how wonderful certain aspects of our life have been. These special, long term memories of people, incidents, locations or relationships are always there, and their power is that they carry multiple messages for us. The most obvious is the personal feelings we have when they are present, because of the built in rewards inherent in recalling these special moments. This aspect of our Image story makes us feel good about being our self.

WHAT ARE THE INCOMPLETIONS YOU BECOME AWARE OF?

WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ASKED?

WHAT NEW DIRECTIONS DO YOU SENSE BEING SUGGESTED?

WHAT NEW INSIGHTS INTO SELF ARE BEING MANIFESTED?

While there is also personal reward in these responses, there are other levels of these “remembrances” that are even more substantive. When you start letting yourself become immersed in their sensations, you start to realize that beyond the warm feelings there are ambiguities that are also arising out of these images. It is at that level that we find one of our great sources for meaning in our art.

In future essays, there will be some suggestions as to what you can do with the Image Stories you uncover. Remember, in most of our journeys, it is the Quest, the journey itself that has more value than the destination. As always, I welcome any comments, suggestions or insights you might wish to communicate. I would especially appreciate hearing about or reading any Image Stories that you might become aware of, after reading this.