Printmaking and the Imaginal Realm
In this gallery I am sharing printmaking work inspired by personal explorations into what Carl Jung called the “imaginal realm”. The images are from collective dreams or myths, showing what I like to call “environmental guardians”, because In myths, that what they do. Their role is to defend nature from pollution, imbalance, disruption, and human greed.
A very short story
In 2009, before I moved away from the east coast, I viewed a show at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. The show featured “The Red Book” by Carl Jung, which had never been available for exhibition before. I had read much of Jung’s work over the years and jumped on the train for a chance to see it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Book_(Jung)
I spent all the time that I could to study the pages of art which Jung had created from his own explorations of his personal imaginal realm. Without going into this topic too much, it is a way of restraining the conscious mind so that images from the “collective unconscious” may by explored.
The Treasure
For an artist, this imaginal realm is a treasure of endless images to work with! Many techniques can be used to make this exploration; among them are forms of meditation, shamanism and dream work. An abundance of information on this topic is online already, so no need to elaborate on that.
For the dream-like images that show up in my work, I created a new gallery for them. Symbolism is a big part of my inner landscape, so sometimes an image doesn’t fit anywhere except here. My more abstract works can be seen in my Portfolio