Up: [[Expressive Art]] Created: 2023-04-04 Updated: 2023-04-26 Course: The Art of Storytelling with Kaitlin Staples Vigo for Washington Jung Society ## Context Led by art therapist [Kaitlin Staples Vigo](http://www.jungianarttherapist.com) for Washington Jung Society. In private practice in Philadelphia. Has done a couple of years of Jungian training but on a leave from that training right now. Got married last summer. 4 Tuesdays in April 7:30-9:30 p.m. There are 11 in the course, all women plus Kaitlin and Sundance (the tech person from Washington Jung). The class is not recorded. ### Week One We introduced ourselves. A few people have been artists their entire lives. One person wants to make her own personal Red Book. Kaitlin suggested exercises from Nora Swan-Foster’s book. A couple of women said they were waiting/hoping for an ’unleashing’ to happen. A few are writers. A woman in her 90s Some made reference to Sandy Geller from the society who has taught courses about dream art. Look for those in future. I’m the only person who has been in an analysis. Kaitlin – this artwork is here for expression, for whatever imagery is popping up underneath. Maybe colours or shapes today and that’s fine. Aristotle – *The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.* Not a performance. Don’t feel you have to share. Can also share what the experience is like. ## Overview Will start with a meditation to prime bringing in imagery 40 minutes to make some art 10 minute break Sharing and discussion Take a photo of tonight’s work because it’s going to change each week. Any art form that you continue over a period of time is a process piece. A process piece can have extensions, as well as layers, as long as it’s the same body of work. So can do a triptych or whatever if I wish. It’s done when I say it’s done. Might want to match material to energy level. For example, more fluid = watercolour, more contained = pencil Took us through a meditation where we needed to come up with imagery. ## My Image My image was of a bright blue river running through blackness. There are rocks in the river. I put the blackness down with a mixture of white and black acryla gouache using a brayer. I’d originally thought I’d have solid black on either side of the river which was going to be a diagonal stripe, a wide one, running from top left to bottom right. But I didn’t. I got caught up in using the brayer and kept going. I like the look of the patchy sections at the bottom in particular. The river became a ribbon. At first it was bright blue watercolour then I started deliberately muddying sections of it with black. The other colours I put in there don’t have an intended meaning. They just felt like the right colours to use – brown and moss. I will be very interested to see how this changes over time. Joanne was saying this morning that once I get into the habit of spending more time on a piece she thinks I’ll find that I go deeper in my art and it speaks to me more. I’d really like that. I found that the tool affected what I was creating and I’m good with that. #Art ![[Week 1, The Art of Storytelling kh.webp]] ## Sharing Kaitlin suggested looking at symbol dictionaries for any objects in our work that particularly stand out for us. Commented to one person that she’s dealing in opposites– front and behind, hiding and revealing Working with material you don’t normally work with is a great way to loosen up Just going with the materials where they take you Other things will pop forward in the photograph you take Suggested to me that I take note of the river becoming a ribbon; that will become important. I had done that. ________________ ### Week Two ## Check-Ins Don’t create a specific storyline. Let what unfolds, unfold because it will naturally become a story. The event that I’ve done today (How to Work an Image for LYT10) won’t in any way ruin the story that comes with my artwork. If anything it will add some seasoning. It’s grist for the mill. In response to someone else — psyche produces the same messages until they are heard. When forcing imagery, that’s when it becomes too precious. Give it space to exist. Can set up an assemblage almost like a sand tray and take photos of it. People were checking in during the first half hour. It was a slow and painful process. Several people are panicking about wanting to make meaning and not thinking that they are. A lot of people feeling that what they are doing is choppy. They’re wanting clarity before clarity can possibly be available, so they’re trying to impose it, trying to figure out what their image ‘means’ every step of the way. Or trying to plan out what it’s going to mean. C., on the other hand, is like me — Not trying to create anything at all. Just pulling together images that attract. Kaitlin had thought that last week’s work really spoke to New Beginning for lots of people. I’m not sure I agree. I mean other than the fact that it was the first class and people were keen to ‘unleash’. I suppose that’s automatically a New Beginning. She suggested the prompt ‘In the Middle’ if we need a prompt this time. I’m ignoring that. It’s way too obvious, too structured. Sit with the image. Let the process unfold. ## My Image As we were talking about the above, an image of a brick wall came to me, undoubtedly connected to the feeling of hitting a wall after giving today’s session. See [[2023-04-11]]. I’ve been turning the image around and around. I don’t know how I will orient it. When it came time to make art, I did do a brick wall, initially just at the top. Then I extended it to the blue ribbon/river and then beyond. But not the curved piece. That came later. As did the splotches without mortar at the very bottom. I like the look of the bricks just above the river as if they are moving fast, not anchored. I also made the ribbon a brighter blue, in acrylic, and wider wherever I could so that it touched either the green or the black. It feels more like a river again. I painted a white orb. I don’t know if it will stay white, but that’s what it wants for now. And I turned the brown and green shape at the bottom right corner into the dolphin that it has always looked like to me. It was a satisfying art time. #Art ![[Week 2 The Art of Storytelling course kh.webp]] ## Sharing Kaitlin said that I have a theme here of solids versus liquids that I may want to pay attention to. The river moving from river to ribbon to river is varying water to solid to water. The bricks being solid but a section of them flowing. Kaitlin spoke about Oobleck which was a great personal connection for me, although I don’t think anyone else knew what she was talking about. There are a couple of women who do not share at all. One, the 90 year old, is on camera but does not speak. The other, L., has never been more than a name on a screen. I appreciate that Kaitlin allows people their privacy. At the same time I worry that the two of them might not be doing okay. I’d have trouble facilitating a session where there is neither sound nor image from individuals for two full hours. __________________ ### Week Three ## Check-Ins Nothing special in the introductory section. People checked in, several of them commenting again that they are worried they aren’t headed anywhere and have spent a lot of time this week thinking about their pieces. I said I was very happy with being intuitive and haven’t given my image any thought at all. Kaitlin suggested her narrative structure again. Session 1 the beginning, Session 2 the middle, this session the middle-end, and next session the end. Someone mentioned titling their image. That hadn’t occurred to me yet. I won’t do anything with that until after next week. ## My Image My image changed dramatically. I just kept asking, “What does it want now?” The order of changes was - Silver orb > moon - Light blue > water. Wanted dark to show through - Red sky > dark at night, redder at left - Black shapes emphasized - Blue triangles emphasized - Black splotches in sky - Orange on moon and blue-hatched lines - Green path. Grey-green inside - Grey green on red - Vines and leaves - Vines and leaves in water - Bottom left quadrant unknown. Imagine it will be first to be developed. #Art ![[Week 3 Art of Storytelling Course kh.webp]] ## Sharing Kaitlin said the left is often the past, and may need to remain blank. Next week’s session is going to be a different structure. _____________ ### Week Four Fewer participants every week. Today there are 7 of us plus Kaitlin and Sundance.The woman named L. hasn’t been back since the second session. Kaitlin simply asked us to finish up as best we could in the first 25 minutes, said she’d provide the rest of the directions after. ## My Image I added stripes to the black boxes — really like them. I saw an egg in the top of the bottom left, outlined it and added some grey. Then I made two more eggs, outlined, in grey and then added colour — raw umber and Indian yellow ochre Finally I took the concrete gray, yellow ochre and raw umber, mixed it together and made the baby poo colour that I used to cover some of the blue. ![[Week 4 Art of Storytelling kh.webp]] ## Questions We are to take 25 minutes to respond to as many of these questions as we wish, then try to assemble responses into a coherent narrative if possible. Instructions: “Some of these questions will be rhetorical or will just serve as thought prompts. Some will provide clarity and others may not apply. Compile your findings and see if there’s a more coherent narrative to be told. If not see if there’s maybe a message. Once you’ve gathered all of this information we’ll return and share as much or as little as you feel comfortable sharing.” Note: Just the questions are in [[Questions to Ask of a Process Artwork]] #### What stands out to me about my artwork? The changes in it over the four sessions. Each change was an intuitive response to a question I kept asking myself, “What does this piece want now?” #### What am I happy with? The energy of it. It became much more interesting and much more alive over time. #### What am I repulsed by? Nothing #### What gives me pause? The little bit of obscured water in the top left. It’s a muddy footpath rather than a river or even a stream. The water flow is almost stopped. #### What inspires me? The jumping dolphin, the vines on the wall, the orb #### What creates curiosity in me? Those black sections that tonight demanded stripes. #### Where did this artwork begin? In having fun with a brayer, rolling down black sections which I’d imagined as darkness around a bright blue river. #### What is it asking of me? To explore possibilities; to trust that there will be solid places to land. #### What has it been asking of me? To be the conduit I’ve always wanted to be; to let the paint lead the way and be open to mystery. #### Where did this artwork face challenges? (Can include materials, lack of inspiration, boredom, dissatisfaction, judgement, strong difficult feeling etc.) I anticipated that I would struggle with filling 50 minutes a night with painting on the same piece, especially since I very much wanted to be as intuitive as possible. But that didn’t end up being a problem at all. I don’t think I really struggled at all other than perhaps the odd moment of wondering if I could stay intuitive for the duration. But I was able to and I was pleased by that. #### Where did it excite me? The new direction it took each evening excited me. #### When did it start to gel or click? When I switched from acryla gouache paints to acrylics. It was easier to cover and to layer colours. In terms of images, the painting started to really click when I made the wall and then put vines on the wall. #### Where does it want to go next? At this moment it doesn’t want to go anywhere. It feels finished. I’ll have to see if it still feels that way if I leave it alone in the drawer for another week or so. #### Was there a main character in the piece? No, various objects took prominence at different times but there wasn’t a main one. #### Was there a hero/heroine? Maybe the dolphin. It’s certainly trying hard, despite being too big for the river. #### Was there a villain/demon/dragon? The bottom left quadrant has a bit of a primordial ooze look to it. The eggs look fossilized, solidified to me, adding to the feeling of the ooze being stultifying. #### Was there a wise soul? Surprisingly, yes. The wall with the patience to grow those vines; the history and stability of the wall even as sections of it are crumbling or in motion. ## Suggestions from Kaitlin to various people Three owls in one image of R's, one owl in the other. Kaitlin wondered if the three might represent three phases of life and the one being the current phase R. is in. Suggest dialogue with the owls to see what wisdom they offer. For me, Kaitlin suggested that my piece had a surrealistic quality, a dreamworld quality to it where objects are what they are but have the ability to transform and shape shift. Several people made reference to the wall and we discussed how walls can be portals, how they can sometimes be walked around, and how they can be a structure to support growth. Kaitlin also suggested that the river, which transformed to ribbon and then back to river, might be a kind of spiritual tethering. Having a moment of ritual with the piece may be what is needed rather than adding something to it. All people in the group were involved in transition of some form.