Image & Insight

Images have long been used as a form of communication.    The cave paintings found in indigenous cultures around the world are some of the earliest records we have of people's use of images for a specific purpose.  Although there are different theories about the intention of our ancestors in creating these images, we are pretty sure they were done with an intent that served the individual and the community more than simply being a decoration on a wall. 

We all need beauty in our environment, and images that please us, uplift, or inspire us can effect us on a very deep level, whether we have created them ourselves or not.  However, by gaining an awareness of the depth at which images can affect us and what they can convey to us in their own special visual language, we can more fully utilize the images in our daily lives. 

By recognizing that images contain information, we can begin a rich exchange between the tangible object in the physical world, and the forces that affect us but are unseen. 

  Some of the topics I have gained understanding about through my own creative process include the Relationship of People and the Earth, The Perception of Energy as Matter, The Nature of Consciousness, Creation Principles of the Universe,  etc. 

I have also used a process of  dialogue  to interact with an image.  In this way I give it a voice to speak to me of its knowledge, as if it had an awareness of its own.  Using this process, I have gotten anything from a paragraph to many pages.  By repeating this process over time with the same image, I get different perspectives, even on sometimes seemingly different topics, from one single image. 

Often, if I work on a single topic in a series of several images, either with a deliberate conscious intention or as spontaneous work, I gain much more understanding, in a more comprehensive manner.  Repeating a topic in a variety of media also increases my understanding, because the expression of it is greatly affected by the nature of the media. 

By recognizing that images contain information, we can utilize them to their fullest potential, to tap into the broadest resource of knowledge available:  from within our own self.  Images tap into the collective consciousness and can teach us in a holistic manner.   Through these "chunks" of information innate in images, we can gain effortless insights into topics previously unknown to us. 

1997