Border between dark and light: Circulation
At the Autumn Equinox, day and night sit in almost-balance, though the movement is inwards, towards darkness. For me, this is a time of distilling: looking back over the work of the year, noticing what continues to hold my attention and what can be allowed to fall away. In the studio, it’s a time when I consider the relationship between making and circulating the work, between the uncertainty of a new body of work and the decisions that bring a work out of the studio and into the world.
The Nine Calendrical Transition Points
My articulation of The Nine Calendrical Transition Points are inspired by alchemical encounters towards self-realisation and by rituals and myths that mark changes in the seasons and the subsequent impact on everyday and spiritual life.
In particular, I work with the solstices and equinoxes (quarter days) and the Celtic fire festivals (cross quarter days) celebrated in November, February, May and August. I add an additional point at Samhain (November) to accommodate the ending of one cycle and the beginning of another.
For me, these nine transition points seem to align with the painting/creative process itself, which, to my understanding, involves the psyche’s transformative unfolding. By psyche, I mean the web of our being that flows between the deepest aspects of self, other, cosmos and the processes of becoming conscious of these depths.
By giving attention to the properties of each of the nine calendrical transition points as they emerge in real time in the external world, I find an unparalleled opportunity to simultaneously explore equivalent internal relations and transformations. I’m interested in how all of this manifests itself in painting and other creative activities.