“Creative Alchemy and Mindful Art Practices” 2019 – A series of articles by Roseline de Thelin, Multi Media Artist, Creativity Coach & Mentor, Expressive Arts Teacher & Art Therapist.
Mix media as a form of art making combines, collages and assembles an array of art materials. That means the artist needs to start collecting his/her “attractors” to create with. Attractors can be images, photographs, words or any kind of objects that lay forgotten or unnoticed around us and yet seam to be calling us silently. These art materials become our well of inspiration. Learning to listen to them with all our senses and respond to their inner life provides a natural starting point for creation. We need to cultivate our awareness as we dialogue with them, feel them, and observe their inherent qualities to discover their full creative potentials.
“Art materials are full of suggestions if we approach them un-aggressively, receptively. It is a source of unending stimulation and advises in most unexpected manner.” Anni Albers in “Materials as metaphors”
On a Meta level I believe this is one of the many ways artistic expression can help us become more conscious creators. As we learn to be attentive to the world that surrounds us we might shift from a human centered consumer perspective towards a world-centered /participatory and conscious/ relationship to our environment.
Mix Media offers direct opportunities to explore how we relate and dialogue with the world around us. When creating assemblages and collages, we combine images, textures, materials and found objects of all kind that talk to us. Materials become alive through metaphors, engaging our imagination to create artworks that “tell a story”.