ANIMA
The Anima are carvings from bark collected along the Hudson River.
They began as an accident. I had gone hunting for driftwood
and could not find exactly what I wanted and somehow recognized
the many pieces of bark, hiding right there in plain sight. That was in 2004.
They have their own ways. Sometimes they flake apart;
sometimes the heads come off,
the breasts get bigger, smaller or become one.
Sometimes they like to pair up or get in groups;
others are quite solitary.
Most are kinetic—they wiggle, bob and lean
They have something to do with what Jung calls the “bush soul”
They teach me. Because they have not been shown or
sold much till now, other rules developed:
I got to learn from them about carving and knives,
about leaving things appropriately vague and ambiguous.
I got to learn about Alchemy, and opposites-in-affinity.
I got to learn about nixies, nymphs, dryads and Baubo
I got to know more about Shadow and our many s’elfs.
I got to learn about anima -- our impersonal, amoral nature
They have something to do with
the later stages of the alchemical process... when the King and Queen unite
our many other s'elves who have been waiting to appear.
They are polyvalent. They mean many things and opposite things.
They change importance.
They are totems, dolls, fetishes, memoria.
They become gifts.
They are both mirrors and windows, reflecting back what we
know and feel, and helping us see into new, sometimes dark places.
Jung writes about anima: “Everything the anima touches
becomes numinous- unconditional, dangerous, taboo, magical”
WHERE THEY ARE
- There are a few hundred in my Warwick, NY Studio.
Come see them!
and HAVE BEEN
- Ram Dass Library, The Omega Institute, April-October, 2008
- Kaaterskill Fine Arts, Hunter, NY, September-October, 2008
- Unison Gallery, New Paltz, NY, October-November, 2008
MORE INFORMATION
- Pictures and writing about them is at this website
- References to Jung's work on Anima
- The most unbelievable product endorsement ever!
- Photoworks book of my Anima
- Wonderful connection with Kathleen Jenk's Myth*ing Links
