Symbols Archive
Mixed Media (2017-2023)
A collection of drawings, objects, collage, & stop-motion animated loops born to explore symbolic content as inspired by Carl Jung & The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism
Star, ⭐, ✨, ☄️
More about this symbol... The first time I really noticed the star graphically was on the side of Artemidora, a mummified woman living in Gallery 138 at The Met. A distinctive shape repeated on the handpainted sarcophagas. A cacoon for the dead to rise again. “How strange it is. Here I am staring at this picture painted here so long ago,” I thought “ and inside-- the remains of a soul passed into another existence.”The star became a personal symbol for me for a while; embodying something of the spirit. Maybe it’s our innate potential as a created thing existing in the world today? Makes me think of the star-birth scene in the Jodi Foster film Contact. Historically, my favorite emoji has been the sparkle. At times in life, I’ve lost “my sparkle”. So I drew it in a box.
Stars have human-like appendages so I have also investigated that. I’ve also tried out it’s four pointed variations ✦ which remind me of a 1950’s spur/wonder pop object that gleams, shines, or convieniently highlights consumer products. A staple of googie architecture. This star style is go-to for illustrators at the moment. I have a theory that the emoji has influenced that. There is also the concept of north star... Something we follow or are led by (a concept that flickers in my mind most seasons).
Candle, 🕯️, 🔥
More about this symbol... I often bought brightly colored candles from the basement spice shop around my corner on 2nd avenue. During that time, I woke before sunrise, ate breakfast by candlelight. I’d light this meditation candle and prep for 6am bikhram yoga. I had a lot of uses for candles then. I’d light them over dinner or before a working studio session. I stared at it’s flame, inviting whatever would come as I drew, ate, made, danced, filmed, or burned things. Later I learned I had also been practicing trataka; a meditation technique where one uses a candle as a single point of focus- sitting before it like a student. It is a melting timepeice.A few years later I suffered a major loss and my body went through a process of grieving. During this time I picked up a different type of candle. On the bottom shelf of the grocery store at the corner of Halsey and Malcom X Boulevard. Between the airfresheners and ziplocks, I found them. Tall unmarked Santeria-style votive candles. Pulling out a paint pen I’d don them with a mantra, whatever needed to get me through to me those next couple of weeks. When the candle runs out-- maybe I absorbed the learning? The candle made me feel less alone.
Kundalini was another concept absorbed into my candle studies. Birthday candles also. Before my 35th I drew the unstoppable years pressing on me in a Marina Ambromovich-style crucifix. There is something about a candle as a creative force or a spirit. The flame “this little light of mine” that can be extinguished. The Chicago Cultural center had a cool multi-teired mosaic candlelabra. I found it somewhere in the buildings ornate floors. It is occult-looking and reminds me of the brass 6-pronged candle holder I had recently bought from my dead grandfathers estate. The candelabra that sits on my table now.
Sprout 🌱, 🌿
In the beginning- I thought these sprouts represented two people: partners who grew steadily and inexplicably intertwined. But with more time, I realized the sprout represented new growth in me. From there, I began to draw it solo and stopped attributing my worth to someone outside myself. I think in that way I’ve used the image of a sprout to work through self doubt and imposter syndrome.Sometime after that first intertwined drawing, and after nearly a decade living in concrete I moved out of a 8.5 million person city into a 280,000 person suburb. I was suddenly surrounded by green. Spring was absolutely miraculous. It felt unreal. It had been a while since I experienced it this way: surrounded by foliage. The tinest spurts of growth here were finally perceptable to me. I learned (or was forced) to slow down. Growth registered in the calmness. On those spring mornings I sipped my coffee with a smilax vine who inched its tendrils over a chain link fence towards the sun. Each day brought a few centimeters more. During that time I also struggled with boredom. Leaving behind the fast paced life made me antsy. One day at a time, I’ve accepted that things usually happen just one day at a time.
This collection of drawings and things includes everything from a cassette, to a sewn felt patch, to a sprout on a notebook I kept while in hospital. I am still working with this symbol, watering as we go.
Circle, ⚪, ◌, ◉, ❍, ⊙, ∘
Circle as a void or a portal. Circle as the first shape we see upon birth (the pupil and the sun). Circle as an originator of life. Between 2017-2018 I used source texts to study both complex symbols and simple shapes-- including the circle. Out of it came vignettes captured in film plus a few ink and pen drawings. The vignettes were staged with simple household objects: mirrors, matches, disgarded hardware. Other moments were captured in real time/space by peering into peep holes, binoculars, and coffee cups.Unsuprisingly, circles can be spotted everywhere and hold in them a multitude of meanings. This collection also includes circle variations via 35mm slides which I’ve been developing as a part of a larger low-tech slide projection project. The circle always feels very zen-- so I am happy to return to it in those slide experiments. Some of which include a sun-like portal, a circle collapsing within a grid, and an accidental finger smudge. Each 35mm slide is created by hand with Roscolux gels, paint, posco pens, ink, gel polish, via scratchiti and collage.
Snake, 🐍
In eastern philosophy the snake appears coiled at the base of the spine. This concept of Kundalini references an untapped energy source held within you. Once awakened this force uncoils and rises within you like intertwined snakes. This stands in stark contrast to the classic Judeo-Christian image of a snake tempting humans with forbidden knowledge. I explored the tensions between these two traditions but ultimately the concept of life-force/awareness (grown within) won out. Plus snakes are just fun to draw.Other snake ideas include Caduceus (snake coiled up around a staff with wings) representing all things medical and adapted from ancient Greek myth. There is also the Hermetic symbol of Oroborous (a snake eating it’s own tail) which has a multitude of mind-blowing meanings that are worth cruising on Wikipedia. For me, my obsession with snakes likely started when I took up a Kundalini yoga practice a coworker recommended. It was a 30-minute meditation session, sitting in easy pose, holding a lotus hand mudra, and cycling a 15 second suspended box breathing exercise along with short mantra. It was pretty out there and an interesting trip for a few months.
My interest in the snake was further solidified when I learned about the Gnostic Ring which Carl Jung designed and wore from the 1920’s until his death. On it were several symbols including a coiled snake, a womans face, and the figure 8 (representing eternity).
Flower, 🌸, 🪷, 🌹, 🥀
After a few solid years of therapy I started drawing flowers. When I started a vegitable garden I learned that flowering took plants tons of energy. For a plant to flower means it’s basic needs have been met and most of it’s conditions are right. The bees come out with the flowers. Pollination offers the opportunity for the seed to spread.In these collections of flowers I explore both plenty and emaciation. I once cried my eyes out in an art gallery and a stranger comforted me. I later learned this stranger (turned friend) had their share of sorrow. They shared that their personal symbol was the wilted 🥀 rose. As an artist, they even changed their name to follow suit. It was a revelation to me that someone could embrace their pain in this way. I had also never noticed this quite poetic emoji.
Our early experiences with flowers are usually more humble than the epic red rose. As children we collect wildflowers from feilds, concrete cracks, and schoolyards. I know for certain my grandmother still holds dear her earliest memories of flowers, and in her 80’s still found her greatest joy digging in the dirt. There’s something temporal and rare about flowers that speaks about beauty and hope.
Various Symbols 👁,🌏,♥️,🪜
There are a lot more symbols I have worked with but have yet to curate into groups.Until then please enjoy the following in this varied collection. Many of which are stop motion loops...