In my workshop this weekend we ended with some hands-on using clay and collage materials. It's been a long time since I have done a collage, but for years of my life it was a very soothing, freeing exercise.
I think it's the cutting and pasting, and clearly the visual aspect of it appeals to me as well.
It was the perfect way to end a journey in the sandplay of men in midlife, rendered with the backdrop of the story of Gilgamesh.
12 comments:
I participated in a class for women exploring our pasts and dreams/desires about a year ago. I found it very interesting and satisfying.
I made a collage of 'my life'.
I may have to share mine someday, too.
I really like yours. Is there also meaning behind it. Or is it, what it is?
~Lisa
Lisa, I tried to stop the conscious process as I cut and pasted, to let some of the other stuff come up.
The themes I see today are spirals, synchronicity, movement/motion, repeating patterns, frog, salamander, horse, fish leaping, alchemy, rootedness.
The golden horned longhorn is the one mystery to me. I'm not sure what it means or why it is so prominently positioned - seemingly holding up the rest of the picture with its horns! - but I was very drawn to it and felt it belonged exactly there where I pasted it.
Another surprise today is that the repeating pattern patch near the center is made up of clocks with times from cities all over the world, and it has been pasted on upside down.
I did not realize they were clocks, nor did I intentionally put it there topsy turvy, but it sort of makes sense given the way I live my live. Slightly off center, and very out of kilter with the rest of the world. :)
There is also a small Buddha head with a red vessel next to it, which I suspect has a deeper meaning than I realized when I stuck it there.
The collage looks lovely. I've never made one myself. My hobbies only include kitting, crocheting,sewing and needlepoint. I might try collage someday, but then I don't know if I would know what to do with it when I was done.
AHA! Arlene, now I know who to call when I finally get ready to learn how to sit by my woodstove knitting my poncho. (a long desired little dream of mine)
:)
What I love about collages is they change as I change. It's almost like they are a divination tool.
As far as the longhorn, have you thought about balance, fertility & the astrological sign Taurus? And how does the gold play in?
Harmony,
Janet
Janet, definitely balance for the longhorn... not sure about the Taurus thing. The gold I suspect has to do with the alchemical process. Transforming balance to a higher level?
That's certainly one of my ongoing challenges - balance.
Thanks for the insights, as usual! I need to do some reading about longhorns. :)
I think that when we're so focused on creating with words, it's really wonderful to use the other side of our brains by collaging or painting or drawing. It unleashes all kinds of new thoughts and ideas. Maybe the longhorn is pointing you towards New Mexico. I always think of Georgia O'Keefe when I see that image.
Well, duh re: New Mexico - the setting for the biggest part of my current novel.
However, longhorns to me, geographically speaking, point to Texas, where I lived for nearly 4 years while in graduate school... and also the setting for a part of this novel I'm working on.
Now I'm wondering if the collage might be a blueprint for editing my novel!
Oh yes, Billie,
O'Keefe has done many beautiful paintings including animal skulls, bones and flowers. She's one of my favorite artists,
which include two other famous painters, whose prints compliment my walls:
Doug West and R.C. Gorman
Maybe you should plan a creative trip to New Mexico for your next novel. Georgia O'Keefe's home is in Abiquiu, only about 2 hours from my home.
It's a very beautiful and spiritual place and a wonderful retreat for artists and writers.
Promise me that if you do come out, that you'll visit here with me, too. :)
~Lisa
Lisa, my family was out there for several weeks a few years back, and all of us have very much wanted to return. I came home with so many notes and photos and details - much of that has found its way into this book.
I'm not remembering if/how Ghost Ranch is connected to Georgia but I have come close to doing a writing retreat there several times over the past 2 years!
The really interesting thing is that my first sandplay therapist is now in Santa Fe, there are two writer friends out there, one in Albuquerque, the other one in Las Cruces, and of course now you and Linda are friends living in the land of enchantment. :) I suspect I will get back out there sometime - especially if I can drive rather than fly. I'm so put off by the idea of air travel these days.
That's awesome Billie! What a small world it is.
And I don't blame you for not wanting to fly.
Both me and my husband are retired from the airlines and receive free flying priveleges to just about anywhere in the US and World....but we rarey ever take advantage.
Flying is just not the way it used to be. So, we choose to drive, as well.
:)
~Lisa
And I neglected to mention that my husband would move out to NM in a heartbeat - he would love to open a photography gallery there. :)
Post a Comment