A Journey Through Time and Space - Part One

September 3, 2022

My last post was in May of this year.  It feels as if five lifetimes have passed.  My break from obsessive posting online has been great for me, allowing me to return to a better balance of my own creativity and that of sharing with others the lessons I've learned along the way.  With my return to posting on my blog I plan to include segments of the inner voyage I began last summer and continue to navigate.  this post includes Part One of "A Journey Through Time and Space". My plan is to post a new segment about every two weeks.  I can't promise that I will do that.  If my inner artist whispers (or screams) something else in my ear, I will be allowing myself to be distracted once again.

Another part of my plan is to catch you up with the other exciting segments of what is going on in my studio, office and laboratory ... as well as the new online courses, the upcoming live workshops, demos and events.  Again ... no promises.  The lady artist within me is quite demanding these days and I am quite happy to serve her needs and whims.  I think you will enjoy her antics that I share with you.  She's really quite a fun character to spend time with.  Rather demanding, but the rewards are great.

A Journey Through Time and Space - Part One

On July 11th I returned to Parc André Citroën for the first time since last August when, without realizing it, I shed my outer skin and left the park, four and a half hours later, with my newly revealed skin quite tender and unfamiliar to me.  At the time, I was only aware of having left something behind in the park, something that I had clung onto since early childhood, since the time I began to learn survival techniques which required silencing my inner artist so that I could function as something other than an outcast, an odd duck.

I had intended on heading to the park much earlier that morning but had been distracted by a comment I received from Sally Hirst that one of my pieces brought to her mind the work of Anshelm Kiefer, whose work I was unfamiliar with.  I slid down the rabbit hole and watched over an hour of videos of interviews with Anshelm Kiefer.  Thank you, Sally!  This was exactly what I needed in preparation for my return to Parc André Citroën.

Eleven months had passed during which time I had begun to discover, through painting and sketching, what had happened to me in the park and why my life had changed so completely and permanently.  The change was internal.  On the outside, I think I appeared very much the same.  On the inside, I felt awakened and electric.  Not only was I experiencing a new skin, I felt as if’d been given a new set of eyes, a new brain and a new heart.  The truth is that none of these were really new at all … they were the skin, eyes, brain and heart that I had hidden away from pubic view and from myself when I learned to hide my inner artist, my higher self, my soul.  I hadn’t protected … I had imprisoned. After the age of six or seven, I granted myself only an occasional glimpse at who and what I really was … who and what I really am … who and what I believe we all are.  On the eleventh of July I had come to feel more comfortable in my reclaimed skin and other body parts.  I knew there was far more to reveal and to expand on, but I didn’t feel foreign to myself any more.  Hearing the stories of Anshelm Kiefer, I felt strengthened and prepared for whatever might happen as well as whatever might not happen this time in the park. I still have no idea what sally connected my work to Kiefer’s. 

Prior to setting off for the park, I began the steeping several batches of flower petals intended for creating a lake pigment.  I had finally obtained what I thought I needed to make pigments in my tiny flat. My obsession with making pigments from foraged plant material is one of important aspects of my rediscovered childhood passions of converting plants into dyes and potions.

It takes an hour by métro to reach the park.  I took the 11 to République where I caught the 5 to Gare d’Austerlitz and then the 10 to Javel.  From there I walked along the Quai André Citroën to the Parc entrance that had been my exit last year.  The ground felt familiar beneath my feet.

To be continued …

NEWS:

I have recently resurrected and am updating my Portfolio and Collections on ArtworkArchive.  I will be selling selections of my work through the links in these listings.  I'm clearing out thirty years of unseen or rarely seen inventory in my studio to make room for my new works.  I want to expand again to large works of eight foot by eight foot and that requires serious clearing of space.

Link to collection of Parc André Citroën Series of 100 Drawings and Paintings (ongoing) : https://bit.ly/3ReoRhQ

Link to collection of Dala Art : https://bit.ly/3Qa7kGf

These collections as well as a collection of musicians and dancers will be added to updated as time goes on.

Workshops and Demos:

Color-Mapping

I'm teaching three workshops and presenting at least one demonstration in Wales this autumn.  I'll add the information in my next post.  I'll be in the UK from the end of October through to the last week in December.  I'm looking forward to seeing friends, teaching, visiting the villages decorated for the holidays, painting in St. Ives, hiking the mountains and exploring a few new places ... AND taking two side-trips back to France to see the two exhibitions of the work of Vieira Da Silva!!!  Very exciting times.

Online mini courses on Negative Space Shapes are currently in the works.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Chris Carter