exploring by way of a series

 

sometimes you dont know where you're going until you get there...

the past few days i've been exploring ritual masks of various cultural groups--

african, mexican, american -- first nations...  and thinking about the transformative power

of something hand made that took a dancer or shaman and assisted them in transcending

from the day to day world to a more magical spiritual realm...  i hope to capture a taste

of that ritual magic in my work and bring it back to our day to day lives.

images here of recent carved block and silk screen images in progress

sometimes i wonder how many little blocks will i have to carve before i am done with a topic.

sometimes you're never done and you revisit that imagery over and over for years not realizing the deeper theme but just following where the inspiration leads you.

sometimes exploring art is really you exploring yourself.

sometimes it is just fun to make things that look really dang cool.

just keep working, you'll know when you get there.

Manifest Your Desires

As an artist and i guess as a human being i do a lot of soul searching.  I have a continual search for meaning (see also my solo show "lost in the wilderness" all about looking for direction and home)

so what is it we want? what place does art hold in our lives? what unknown abilities might we have? how much subconscious power goes untapped? ask these things and then you'll understand a little bit about my recent sigil set(s).  (set of six hand printed sigil cards)

I heard this song "Adventures in Success" on a community radio station late one night when I was living in Nebraska... possibly in high school...  probably in the '80s and it has stayed with me.  I love the idea that anything you think you can do.  You can manifest your desires.  "The fact is, you will become the person you honestly describe. You can't avoid it".  Make it habit, make it happen.  I have played it a million times.

Now I've created a set of images to assist in my personal quest and they're available for anyone to use...  want nothing, find love, success, good health, make art, joy...   basic human truths.  Make it happen.

From Wikipedia:
A sigil (/ˈsɪdʒəl/; pl. sigilia or sigils; from Latin sigillum "seal") is a symbol used in magic. The term has usually referred to a type of pictorial signature of a demon or other entity; in modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, it refers to a symbolic representation of the magician's desired outcome.
In modern uses, the concept was mostly popularized by Austin Osman Spare, who published a method by which the words of a statement of intent are reduced into an abstract design; the sigil is then charged with the will of the creator. Spare's technique, now known as sigilization, has become a core element of chaos magic.
The inherently individualistic nature of chaos magic leads most chaos magicians to prepare and cast (or "charge") sigils in unique ways, as the process of sigilization has not been rigorously defined. Sigils are used for spells as well as for the creation of thoughtforms.
Unlike with traditional sigils, whose creators made use of traditional lore passed down from generations or from books, modern users often create sigils entirely themselves and devise individual means of "charging" them with metaphysical power.

a mystical take on (folk) art

"...everything which reminds us of the times of amateurish handicraft will awaken primordial impulses in our reptilian brain.  This will virtually automatically liberate the magical power in this section of the brain or awaken it in the first place."  -- excerpt from "Practical Sigil Magic" by Frater U.D.

Upon reading this passage i thought about the appeal of my own art and of folk art in general and the energy conveyed by 'outsider' or 'untrained' artists and the response of viewers to such rustic, primitive images.  Is this the reason we are drawn to such work? Is there a link between the unconscious mind and the raw energy of creation? Certainly folk art conveys a directness that other more 'refined' works do not, in my humble opinion.  i wonder if people are even aware this is happening when they view artwork? do they even notice that surge of energy? they must, that is why we love art right? energy!

another excerpt from the same text:
"Place your trust in your feelings (i.e. your intuition) rather than in rules which other(s)... have set up according to their own subjective biases, disaffections and tempers".