Focusing, TRE, and making Assemblages (Dec 2013)
Recently my art teacher asked me how I get my ideas. The answer lies partly with my practices of Focusing and TRE. My ongoing objective in my artwork is personal integration and self- realization. Also in my regular practice of Focusing and TRE I am always applying those skills to generating ideas for my artwork. My practices are so ingrained and a part of me that it feels like play to access them.
In my Focusing I am going inside my core area, grounding my feet, legs arms and hands and sensing for what needs my attention. This is something that I can do any time, so when I am wondering about a theme or an idea I start sensing more about it. That might come as a feel of how it is- in words or descriptions. As I explore how it feels, more descriptions or possibilities emerge. I might engage with this process several times in relation to a possibility and it could emerge into one or more projects- either a sculpture, assemblage or a painting or a feeling I want to capture in a piece of work. Sometimes I experience only a fragment and as I start creating something, the work itself evolves.
TRE™ Tension Releasing Exercises make a contribution as I shake out tension regularly, experience feeling more grounded and am thus more able to sense what feels right. The more I practice doing that, the more easily I am able to check in and sense on an ongoing basis. The more I practice, the more my skills can be brought to bear in relation to any area of my work or life. Often I wake up with an idea of how to use a found object when the day before I have been wondering –What can I make of that object that I collected or found.
In my last art show (2004) I had shown assemblages, so people started donating objects to my effort. I had a sense of wanting something to portray making a stand for my art and life. I had 3 wheelbarrows that had been given to me. I started to play with how the three might stand up on their handles and form a huddle. In collaboration with my builder we put them together with bolts and made sure they were solid enough to stand together as a triad. With a few more adjustments- a 2×4 at shoulder height and two 1×2’s vertical from there, a piece of doweling across the top forms the support to hold a 12 inch metal wheel and lo and behold we have the piece “Making a Stand”.
TRE and Focusing 