It was just beautiful. The language she spoke, the language of myth, story, dream, archetype... It’s as though the essence of the Transpersonal, the Collective Unconscious, the magic of ‘The Journey’ and possibility of Individuation becomes tangible when it’s spoken about like it was by her yesterday.
I am not good with the spoken word, particularly under the spotlight when I forget what I'm called and what I'm doing there, so it took Estelle with her knowledge and insights to bring fully the message that lay behind the work to those that were there to listen.
'Visit to Ros Cryer's Studio
I was met with a table top of her ceramics. Ceramics, vessels standing tall, bone colored, decorated with Mendhi patterns, the traditional designs from Hindu culture and painted on hands and feet to celebrate special occasions. The interior of the vessels are glazed with a beautiful blue..
Ros reflected with me on the Process of her work:
She felt it reflected her journey through two bouts of serious heart surgery, real doubt that she would survive the surgery while at the same time the amazing skill that was required to correct, repair and create an alternative way for the heart to do its work.
While working on the vessels she felt herself enter another space, a place of being which was both emotional and physical. Looking more closely at the vessels she pointed to carved out spaces, left unadorned, the spaces which for her were about stillness, silence, meditation, and which reminded her of a moment after surgery when she felt encompassed in a bubble of bliss - where silence and non attachment dominated.
Working on the vessels included meditation, Focused energy, Interiorority, Nurturing.
The reciprocal relationship between artist and art has
been one of engagement and respect - the
vessel would tell her when it was finished, the creative act was more about
being than doing.
The blue interior of the vessel is no arbitrary choice. An experience in France some years ago, and a visit to some underground caves, entering the caves, floating on water, then swimming in the water which seemed to leave her body with a fluorescent glow of aqua blue links with a sense of entering the womb of mother earth, floating in the amniotic water of the womb and then emerging and being birthed , if you like the rebirth after the heart surgery.
The blue interior of the vessel is no arbitrary choice. An experience in France some years ago, and a visit to some underground caves, entering the caves, floating on water, then swimming in the water which seemed to leave her body with a fluorescent glow of aqua blue links with a sense of entering the womb of mother earth, floating in the amniotic water of the womb and then emerging and being birthed , if you like the rebirth after the heart surgery.
The title of this exhibition is Body, Vessels, Archetypes.
The latter is a concept developed by Carl Jung who is known for the importance he places on dreams as a means to bring the Unconscious to consciousness. Archetypes are universal patterns which come from the Collective Unconscious. In other words patterns which are shared by the whole of the human race.
Archetypes present with images and motifs that come through dreams, visions, and fairy tales; and I would like to add in art; Archetypes are filled with psychic energy; Attached with strong emotion; And appear when transformation of the psyche is about to take place. Carl Jung's word is individuation, a journey to whole-ness. Apply this description to Ros' s work. (repeat the descriptions of archetypes as above)
The strong archetype in this body of work is the vessel as body. Body created, body broken, body mended and healed, body explored, body deeply understood and valued.
When I think of the Collective Unconscious then I know why this whole body of work has touched me so deeply and I hope you too. I can identify with the archetype of the vessel as body, the color blue as the birthing waters, and the white, carved out spaces on the vessel as the need for the silence and the place to just be... A time of mystery and sacredness.
If you go behind the screen you will be enveloped with the sense of the sacred by the installation of the broken pieces on an altar-like table in a space that is about brokeness and mystery. Joseph Campbell says: "Sacred Space is everywhere, but you can only say that after you have learned the discipline of Sacred Space and appreciated the metaphoric significance of the objects found therein.". We do need to ask ourselves what is the significance of the broken pieces of porcelain and the broken, repaired vessels. When we have answered this question, as Roz did in her work, then we can feel the mystery of the sacred space.
At a psychology convention Elizabeth Martini delivers a paper entitled Broken Vessels - a Container for Individuation. In Roz's work she uses the Vessel Archetype as body and the thought of body as container enlarges our understanding and concept of all the potential contained in the body: The conscious and the unconscious, the richness of different archetypes
which inform, direct and through a commitment to make the journey
which ultimately brings us to Wholeness.
And just in case we haven't got the message Roz turns to a second medium: painting.
The paintings are a continuation of the Journey to
Wholeness. There are the paintings on the rich fabric of texture,
patching, embroidery which follow the same theme of the vessel, the body, the
soul, if you like, being patched, put together, using the skill of stitching, engaging with life encountering its roughness and it's beauty and emerging not
without pain but always with beauty and healing.
The third step is to reproduce, to emphasize, the final product. There is no evidence of brokenness, scars, but every evidence of creation. I am reminded of the words of the Creator who after creating the whole of the universe was able to sit back and say it is good and love what has been created. Roz has recreated through her art a whole new understanding and appreciation of the archetype of 'Body as Vessel'. Her body traumatized, her mind and her psyche deeply affected becomes re-created and we enter her world and can say of this creation it is good and love what we see.
The third step is to reproduce, to emphasize, the final product. There is no evidence of brokenness, scars, but every evidence of creation. I am reminded of the words of the Creator who after creating the whole of the universe was able to sit back and say it is good and love what has been created. Roz has recreated through her art a whole new understanding and appreciation of the archetype of 'Body as Vessel'. Her body traumatized, her mind and her psyche deeply affected becomes re-created and we enter her world and can say of this creation it is good and love what we see.
The paintings on canvas of the actual ceramics were described by Maggie as monumental. A perfect word to describe this whole body of work MONUMENTAL'
