Visual notes thinking about trauma and transcendence

Program Description Ann Ulanov – Trauma and transcendence: A spatiotemporal framework for opening to new experiences Craig E Stephenson – A Soldier’s Story: Trauma, Trickster and Transcendence Donald Kalsched – Glimpses through the veil: Encounters with the numen of clinical work Lionel Corbett – A depth psychological approach to fundamentalism and terrorism Tanya Luhrmann – Is the shaman…

Read More

Masters Presentation: Floating, Falling, Balancing, Flying and Landing

I completed my final 20 min presentation with 3 other amazing women who spent the last two years in the program of Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Here is an audio recording of my presentation and slides as well as a few photos from the weekend and my notes. Copy…

Read More

The Influence of Creativity

In the broadest sense, artists are many things. In this paper, I discuss one aspect of artists: how their creative work influences one another. To explain how this works in greater depth, I share how studying African American culture influenced my creative voice. There are many famous artists, examples too, ones with prestigious lives, available to…

Read More

Visual notes on creative inspiration and image theory

During April’s residential lectures at the Pacifica graduate Institute I took notes on my iPad in a form that I call visual notes.  The residential lecture format is two days on one topic and two days of another topic. The first two days were about creative inspiration and focused on black US American creatives from…

Read More

Removing the Mask

Achieving high value things in life involves effort and the tricky task of collaborating harmoniously with others. Collaboration is a skill with rewards that go beyond anything an individual is capable of accomplishing. In this paper, I will introduce you to one talented, harmonious group I am involved with. Our shared vision as artists extends…

Read More

The Grey Muses and The Complex Nature of Inspiration

The Greys are gathering to create a new temple. Their community lives all over the world, and knowing what pattern to look for is key in identifying the members. This paper looks at visionary artists Alex and Allyson Grey and presents a pattern for connecting with creative inspiration through the lens of depth psychology concepts.…

Read More

The Expressive Power of Archetypes

I have just started a new class at Pacifica Graduate Institute, The Expressive Power of Archetypes, with Jim Kline, Ph.D. From the course description: This course begins with an overview of archetypal theory, and then turns toward an examination of art and cultural artifacts which express archetypal themes. Particular emphasis is placed on the archetypes of the Artist…

Read More

Family Archetypes, Finding a familiar image in the myth of Demeter and #Persephone

I’m starting my second quarter at Pacifica Graduate Institute. In my first week of, Healing Power of Creativity, we are looking at myth and sand-play. The course is taught by Priscilla Taylor, L.M.F.T., Ph.D. and covers, “Sand-tray therapy, dance therapy, psychotherapy, art therapy, music therapy, and narrative therapy are recently established therapeutic modalities in psychology…

Read More

Liberty and Death: Connecting Washington and Shakespeare Through a Short Film

My film, Earth Mother, Sky God Weep for Tragic Love, is an animated story inspired in general by Shakespeare’s tragic love stories and specifically by the final scene of Romeo and Juliet. The film I made speaks about love and death in a new way by comparing Shakespeare’s drama to American art history and asking…

Read More