'I've found you, but you've been beaten, battered, starved, malnourished, neglected,
discounted, and disowned. I must restore you to health so we can have our adventures.'
What words might you find on Julia Cameron's T-shirt as she walks her dogs in the pi~non foothills of New Mexico, or travels on the road during her 18-city author tour this fall? Always in Process. Author of The Artist's Way: a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, she has come out with another bright, lively, personal jewel that encourages readers to keep creating. The Vein of Gold, a Journey to your Creative Heart, recently released, shares a similar spirit with its ancestor, The Artist's Way:-creativity is never over and the author is constantly creating-in process. Her personal stories, useful exercises and lively, upbeat writing manner cajole and entice your child-self-the creator-to come out to play.
The Artist's Way, published four years ago, spent 26 weeks on the Publishers' Weekly best-seller list in 1995 alone and has sold more than 650,000 copies. It has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to pursue their creative dreams through the comprehensive 12-week program.
According to Cameron, "The Artist's Way was a book of reunion and discovery: 'Ah-hah! I do have inside me an artist, an inner youngster, who had been lost to me! . . .' The Vein of Gold is a book of healing and rehabilitation: 'I've found you, but you've been beaten, battered, starved, malnourished, neglected, discounted, and disowned. I must restore you to health so we can have our adventures.'"
Both books are, according to Cameron, "the distillate of 30 years of artistic practice." It is my belief and my experience as a teacher that all of us are healthy enough to practise creativity. It is not a dangerous endeavour requiring trained facilitators. It is our human birthright and something we can do gently and collectively. Creativity is like breathing -pointers might help, but we do the process ourselves.
After The Vein of Gold's initial chapter entitled 'Setting Out,' which brings you up to date on the tools of The Artist's Way, there are seven chapters of essays that house over 100 creative tasks which take us through the various kingdoms as a journey to the heart of creativity. The following are two of the seven kingdoms Cameron describes. Included is a task and one of the 513 quotes of other artists she has placed in the margins.
Divide a piece of notebook paper into three parts horizontally. Label the top third, 'Years 1-5.' The middle is 'Years 5-10.' The bottom third is 'Years 10-15.' On additional pieces of paper, move through your life in five-year increments up to your current age, jotting down notes in answer to these questions:
Where did you live? Who were your major players? Any significant pets? What were your favourite foods, games, music, friend, toys, hobbies, interests and clothes? What were your major events? What are your dominant memories?
The challenge, then, is to be the creative myth-maker that we are, to consciously choose our myth, lest it be chosen for us by the collective mind.
-Mary Elizabeth Marlow.
Task: Time Capsule Collage from whatever source-magazines, newspapers, catalogs, cereal boxes, old photo collections; collect and save 20 images that in some way resonate with your memories, associations and life experiences from years one to five.
Don't be too literal with yourself. If your dominant memory of your toddler's bedroom is the great green leafy tree outside the window, you can use a picture of the rain forest or even a salad if that green works for you in conjuring up the association. Remember, you are both the 'I' and the 'eye' in this exercise. It is not necessary to know why an image speaks to you. The fact that it does is connection enough.
Take about 20 minutes and swiftly lay the images down on poster board. I prefer working with old-fashioned Elmer's glue, although there are those who swear by glue sticks. Feel free to add words or glitter, to outline with magic marker or dabble with paints. This is your collage and it is meant to reflect your child-self. Try to let yourself go back to that child and remember.... You may want to set aside time each day for a week to move another five years further with your Time Capsule Collage. You may also want to hang these collages for a while. A hallway hung with a row of them becomes a visual Narrative Time Line, not unlike a home movie.
The local painters were my idols...These artists, too, were grown-ups, but they were grown-ups who could still see! Their eye was still in love! Like mine!"
-Frederick Franck.
Julia Cameron will be in Vancouver on November 7 & 8 to present a workshop based on The Vein of Gold. $150. Tickets from CBO 280-2801 or Greenhouse Books, Banyen Books, Serendipity's, Whitby's and Phoenix Books.