Jackson's Actions

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire. --Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) <

An abstract expressionist (Jonas Gerard) and a clay sculptor (Kat McIver) teamed up to teach a weekend workshop here in Asheville. I've been waiting to study with Jonas ever since I first saw his wonderful paintings. But what we got was not what I expected at all.


Kat McIver and Jonas Gerard

We met on Friday night at Jonas's big studio in the Riverwalk district. Kat led us in a little meditation to make the space safe and then we were introduced to what we were about to do. Process, process, process -- no finished product. The bottom line was that if we were to paint with the kind of joy that Jonas does, we had to clear ourselves of all old blocks, griefs, and learn to let go of the old 'mud' (Jonas's word).

For me, this was not good news. I had been doing "get better" programs my whole life. I worked on staff for Werner Erhard's "est" for five years. I had done every 12-Step program in the country. I had done Silva Mind Control, and read over 200 books on co-dependence and dysfunction, on spirituality and self-realization. I was in no mood for woo-woo. Been there, done that.

Friday night we started the workshop with clay. Many of us had never worked in clay, and Kat had some ideas for setting the tone of the weekend. We began by putting on blindfolds and dancing solo to a little drum music to loosen up. Then we actually tackled the clay with our blindfolds in place, just to be with the tactile sensations, and try to stay out of our heads.

I was certain that a many-pointed star was forming in my hands. I could feel the ball of clay becoming a 3-dimensional ball from which points jutted in all directions. I couldn't have been more surprised, when I removed the blindfold, to see that I had actually created a human hand with eight fingers instead. And not only was it a rather ominous and grasping hand, but it upset me to see it. I was, apparently, right in the swim of things.



Saturday morning, I decided to let Kat know how I felt about woo-woo. I was in no mood for New Age monkey business, and she listened with a totally open heart as I poured out my considerations. Then of course, they were gone. Poof. Disappeared. I was free to continue on my way with the class. Communication works.

We began painting. Tempura on paper. Tables were set up with pots of paint and water, and a few ground rules for sharing. We were not "doing" paintings, but instead just making images of our deepest fears, our ugliest memories, the things inside us that we feel hold us back. It was not to be "pretty" or "arty" or finished work. It was meant to be a free unloading of our dark psyches. A whole lot of wild paintings resulted.

Kat, Jonas, artist Linda Greenup (Jonas's partner) and a wonderful decorative artist named Lyna Farkas helped facilitate us, cruising the crowd and egging out whatever they detected hiding in the images. Was it finished? Was there more? What was that?
With a little prodding, the pictures took on a life of their own, the life of our
inner fear, anger and pain. We painted from 9 to 5 with a lunch break, and the energy in the room was palpable. I had trouble sleeping Saturday night. This was Saturday's output. Hard to look at, ugly, and not art. But that was the point.





Here is Jonas goading me on to complete the military picture...the baby and lower severed head were added after he visited me.






On Sunday, the entire process started over again, only asking us to go deeper.
and we obliged.







If you think all of this looks like a demented four-year-old's work, you would be right. Most of us experienced being reduced to a child-like level of drawing and painting. Some people were not able to let go, or had trouble doing so, but by the end of the workshop, there were definitely lighter, happier faces in the room. And in the final sharing we did, I think it was unanimous that we found some new and interesting ways to expand our work, regardless of our medium or styles.

Kudos to Kat and Jonas, Linda and Lyna for a great weekend. (now where can I burn these pictures?)

For more information:

Jonas Gerard, www.jonasgerard.com

Kat McIver, www.katmciver.com or www.mooncenterarts.org

Lyna Farkas, "In The Spirit of Decorum," spiritofdecorum@aol.com (828) 299 1033


Oh, and did I mention that I slept for 12 hours on Sunday night? Just in case you think I was totally unaffected by any of this....


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