I started with 4 paintings that used surrealist techniques because I wanted to agitate and stir up my mind in relation to Home before coming to a more settled place later. I used the word home and three synonyms - house, dwelling, and residence as starting points for these 4 paintings. I used the surrealist technique of automatic drawing in relation to each word, meaning I wrote down the word and then did an automatic drawing under that word on the same piece of paper. I also used my non dominant hand for writing each word and each automatic drawing to further loosen my conscious control over my actions. Writing the word down is meant to serve as an act of suggestion. Imagine that you are cloud gazing with a friend and all you see are fluffy clouds. Your friend then says “Look, a dragon”, and then you can see a dragon in the clouds. The same effect happens with writing a word or phrase down first and then doing a non-dominant hand automatic drawing. I am suggesting to myself what I want to see in the automatic drawing, which I then use as a basis for a finished piece.
I am hoping to gain some insight into what I want in a home and what home means to me by stirring up my thoughts and trying to see home in a new light with the surrealist approach. I have learned so far that home is mountainous and that is because I grew up in northwestern Montana, and mountains were always very visible to me. I have learned that home is a feeling of longing to return to a place I knew before, and to get there I must cross seas of emotional turbulence. I have learned that home can be desolate, where emotions and genuine feelings get overlooked for more socially accepted attitudes, and that is not what I aim for in a home. I have learned that home can be a place of being open minded so that majestic things can dwell within.
My images are mainly metaphorical and talking about emotional states, but I do think that the surrealist approach can teach, not just me but others too, what they feel and think about themselves and the world around them. I am hoping to be able to demonstrate over the semester that by starting with a surrealist approach in my art making, I can come to a clear understanding of an idea, which I believe can translate later into how I approach an art therapy practice.
I am hoping to gain some insight into what I want in a home and what home means to me by stirring up my thoughts and trying to see home in a new light with the surrealist approach. I have learned so far that home is mountainous and that is because I grew up in northwestern Montana, and mountains were always very visible to me. I have learned that home is a feeling of longing to return to a place I knew before, and to get there I must cross seas of emotional turbulence. I have learned that home can be desolate, where emotions and genuine feelings get overlooked for more socially accepted attitudes, and that is not what I aim for in a home. I have learned that home can be a place of being open minded so that majestic things can dwell within.
My images are mainly metaphorical and talking about emotional states, but I do think that the surrealist approach can teach, not just me but others too, what they feel and think about themselves and the world around them. I am hoping to be able to demonstrate over the semester that by starting with a surrealist approach in my art making, I can come to a clear understanding of an idea, which I believe can translate later into how I approach an art therapy practice.