What is Self?

When I make a basket, “I” myself am only one part of it, largely a conduit or link between the trees who continue to live out their purpose by giving needles & other parts to use, the ancient energy that takes over so that my hands just know what to do & to all the beings that have ever woven & all the beings that will ever weave.

So it’s me & not me at the same time – which seems to represent the reality of our existence. In spite of how things appear solid, they are not: Everything is mostly space & emptiness. Everything & Noting is Self, all at the same time.

ORNA PASCAL – multi media artist

(Orna participated in the What is Self? Art & Writing Exhibition @ Frisbie St. in Oakland, CA – May 2009)

Artist Bio: As a child I always wondered how art was actually made and this is my primary artistic interest.  Of course I am thrilled when something I make is lovely to look at, but it truly is the materials and process that keep me going.  My all time favorite tools are pencils & I particularly love the scritch scritch scritch sound they make.  Over the years they have been joined by papers of every kind, pens, inks, brushes, paints, needles, cloth, all sorts of fibers, found objects, words, cameras, computers and whatever else appeals to me. Trying new things and getting to play with different materials and tools is just so much fun!

Although I am interested in, do use & have fun with new materials & methods, it is the ancient which speaks to my soul. The transformation that happens with raw materials, simple tools, tried & true methods, intention, skill & time is powerful and never fails to thrill me.

Being inspired by the materials themselves and allowing my hands and mind to be free, I become part of all those who have come before and all those who will come after me as the creative process brings into being that which did not exist before.

My paintings are vibrant, using many contrasting colors simultaneously.  This technique is always surprising & delightful.  Believing in the power of color and wishing to contribute harmonious and beautiful art to the world, I offer my work for the benefit of all beings.

After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Conservation of Natural Resources from U.C. Berkeley, a job as a college counselor presented itself.  While helping others, my secret desire to be an artist emerged & that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Artist Website: www.ornapascal.com

During my years of being a psychotherapist I have been aware of the importance of the question “What is Self?”  Most persons that have bravely allowed me into their inner arena have at the core this question.

As an artist I have noticed that all my work also relates to the question “What is self?”  “Who am I really?” Attempts of answers via years of paper, glue, Jung and his friends, wonderful pens and colored pencils and scissors.

I have made collages of my experiences since I was 6. That humbly is 53 years of experience. Collage seems to most accurately portray for me the answers.

We are a combination of myriad experiences of every possible dimension.

All I really know is it is an archetypal necessity that is universal, but that it is not simple.  Indulging in the complexities of creativity gives me the most peace.  I feel it is hard to explain and explore many issues simply verbally and conversationally.

So, it is my collage work that helps define me and for others to understand me and hopefully, gleefully themselves.

When you look at my work do not struggle to make sense of it. It is where I was when I made it and hopefully part of who am I am now. Most pieces were created over a period of time.

I truly believe if you are stuck in the moment, wait for the next right thing to reveal itself. Define yourself every day in what you do, say, cook, be, act, don’t react, create.

by GAIL ROBINSON

(Gail participated in the What is Self? Art & Writing Exhibition @ Frisbie St. in Oakland, CA – May 2009)

Each person exists at each moment or day to day in one of five
centers: security, sensation, power, love, or transcendence.

From left to right, top to bottom:
- Homeless person, Battery and  Bush, San Francisco
- Protester and police officer, Market and 2nd, San Jose
- Private wine tasting, San Jose
- Stay single girl, How Weird Street Faire, San Francisco
- Performers and audience, Lost Vegas at CELLSpace, San Francisco
- Performance by Dept of Spontaneous Combustion, Fire Arts Festival, Oakland
- Vodka and propane
- Power buildings, Pine and Market, San Francisco
- Tight rope lesson, Dolores Park, San Francisco
- Friendship, San Jose
- Foggy morning, Guadalupe Creek, San Jose

TORROID – an alt living, working, and discovering art in the SF Bay Area

(Torroid participated in the What is Self? Art & Writing Exhibition @ Frisbie St. in Oakland, CA – May 2009)

“What Is Self?”
These pieces relate to self in both a personal and archetypal way.

Death and Rebirth.

The sculpture is about loss so profound that it leaves one feeling burning pain in the soul, and then only hollow, dead, disoriented and numb. This represents the loss or death of the ego self, purged by the fire of rage and despair. Empty now, waiting to be filled.

Raku clay sculpture explores the paradoxical fragility/strength of the inner self. The raku firing processes incorporate extreme temperature shifts from the kiln to the reduction barrel to the water trough, representing the elements; of earth, air, fire and water., and completing the circle.

The mixed media painting shows the whole self; conscious, subconscious, persona and ego, made from a remix of my notes and sketches taken from the same time period in which i created the sculpture. The outer patterns and shapes represent external forces which influence the shaping of the circular shell that represents the persona. Within the persona, consciousness shimmers above subconscious, with the shiny glass drop of ego hovering between them.

Our collection of life experiences teach us lessons from which we build upon and move forward in our evolution as souls.

My notes and sketches were scanned and digitally collaged, printed with archival inks, then collaged together again onto canvas with other materials and worked back into with acrylic paints and mediums.

JANELLE SCHNEIDER – 3d texture painter & mixed media artist

(Janelle participated in the What is Self? Art & Writing Exhibition @ Frisbie St. in Oakland, CA – May 2009)

Artist Bio: Janelle Schneider was born in Portland, Oregon, and knew from a very young age that she wanted to be an artist and communicate though image.

Her first job during high school was in a local t-shirt shop, where she created hand painted and drawn original designs for special interest group t-shirts, and she also did sign painting on the side. She taught community school classes in calligraphy and glass etching for senior citizens. At graduation she was awarded a scholarship for artistic achievement.

Several years later she attended Pacific Northwest College of Art(PNCA), graduated with a BFA in Design Arts in 1998 and was awarded the Outstanding Senior Thesis Award in Design Arts. During her third year in college she was offered an internship opportunity with a local animation studio, then called Will Vinton Studios. This led to a design arts position which eventually evolved to painting digitally in 3D as a texture artist. During this time she also continued to work in oils, pastel and collage/mixed media, and was offered an ongoing opportunity to exhibit her work in Exposure Art Gallery in Seaside, Oregon.

In 2002 Janelle moved to California to start working on the films Reloaded and Revolutions, the sequels to The Matrix. In 2004 she was offered the opportunity to create the syllabus for and teach a class in digital texture painting at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

She now works for Disney’s ImageMovers Digital in San Rafael as a Senior Texture Artist, while also creating new mixed media work on canvas in preparation for a number of upcoming exhibits.

Janelle’s work features a unifying theme of layers; in layers of meaning, materials and subtle layers of imagery. Creating what she calls “internal landscapes” her subject matter usually centers around personal experiences, and themes relating to mythology, dreams, psychology, spirituality and social commentary.

Artist Website: www.paintbetty.com

“What Are You Hiding?”

“Interaction”

by FOREST STEARNS

(Forest participated in the What is Self? Art & Writing Exhibition @ Frisbie St. in Oakland, CA – May 2009)

Artist Bio: Forest Stearns is my name and I am a prolific excited artist based in Oakland, and attending the MFA program at the Academy of Art in SF. With a focus on illustrious themes in personal and commercial work I try to create characters and spaces on the cusp of beautiful and spooky. Telling stories and creating interactions with line work over color fields.

There is only one way, and that is to really enjoy what it is you are doing and make yourself proud. Enjoy the adventure that this creative life brings you. Live Up

Artist Website: draweverywhere.com

Division of input (outside self) v. Inner (self)

Reno 22 (Tiffany Deleon & Kenton Wise) is Self

Awareness Reflecting the World

Self is Spirit. Timeless, omnipresent, eternal. Self is TRUTH, the known and the unknown

self is green

Self is what’s left when you remove ish

(with a handprint) what you leave behind

Self is a word

Self is a flower from a previous incarnation blossoming again in a new garden

self is constancly mutating

selfLESS

elusively ever present

infinity

self is the unique little bit that never does change

a traveler on a journey

…self is not you at your worst moments….

I think self does include the worst moments, self is the TOTALITY & I no longer deny that part

self is the INNER YOU

is your preference

Mysterious & Mundance

Knowledge, Allows, Self, Imporovement

What is Self – Never 4 Getting Who U Are

Self is Dual, Like the Dual Nature of Nature

Self is life with a glue stick

specks & spectrums

self is the sum of your experiences

Sacred & Profane

Opening your mind but leaving your judgement in the toliet – then flushing

an infinite heart!

Self is You & Me

Me

Self is feeding

Self is everything and nothing!

Life

Self is a bed…make it.

Self is…when? who?why? how? only if open up yourself…self

I eye

Self is the Elf + S

“What we do for self we do for others.”

Laila, Nina, Ava, Dad, Mom

Creating a Reaslistc Me Embracing Now

Self is wonderful & pure essence

Self is an evolution

” There is a myth in our society of the separate self, that we are somehow individual, disconnected from one another, that we can enrich ourselves, become “wealthy” materially or socially or spiritually, at the expense of other humans or other life forms. It is a lie we must challenge at its roots if we are to create a world that our grandchildren deserve.”

(From a speech on Hope)

“We do not really change over time; we are as flowers unfolding; we merely become more nearly like ourselves.”

(from The Queen of the Damned p. 214  )

“Who are we?

We are the life force power of the universe with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds and we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world.

Right here, right now I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere. Where we are, I am, the life force power of the universe. I am the life force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form – at one with all that is.

Or I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere where I become a single individual, a solid – separate from the flow, separate from you. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Tayor, intellectual, neuro-anatomist.

These are the “we” inside of me. Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when?

I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres the more peace we will project into the world and the more peaceful our planet will be.”

(From Jill Bolte Taylor TED Video)

“Well – I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower – and I don’t.”

(From Georgia O’Keeffe, 1976)

Who do we choose to be?

Our actions, thoughts & feelings flow
like grains of wood in predictable patterns,
set by default or choice,
around the knotted events of our lives
sometimes we are surprised from our routine by fresh water drops
which magnify & reveal the myriad sparkling possibilities
hidden in each moment, awaiting our attention & intention
to bloom from the woodwork like a rose.

(Artwork and text by ELI JENKINS)

(Eli participated in the What is Self? Art & Writing Exhibition @ Frisbie St. in Oakland, CA – May 2009)

Each human being is a consort of multitudes,

each archetype manifesting in turn as to

situation, relationship, and experiential history.

Yang scientist philosopher,

yin playful artist,

transcendent poet mystic—

which am I at this

moment, here, with you?

(by Debra Jan Bibel at Studio Lone Mountain)

When all is said and done, this is what I think the core self is — the only part that is indestructible:  “Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.” – Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart

But there are other parts of the self that are not the core, and on most days, in most lives, those are the parts that matter more. They are the parts we create and expand by pursuing what gives us pleasure, inspiration, joy, and fulfillment. And they are the parts that know sadness, anger, and fear. Your most electric joy and most protected fear come from these places, these parts of your self.

Most of that can be diminished and even destroyed, however, so it is worth knowing, worth seeing clearly from every angle, even worth cherishing what fills that space, giving it color, texture, shape, shadow and sparkle. There is no way to know what will later appear in its place, what the new parts will look like, feel like, sound like, what they will seek, know, protect, offer, need.

Most of the self is malleable; like any living thing, it reacts to the conditions that surround it, and helps create the conditions that surround it.  It expands and contracts, sometimes quickly, sometimes so gradually it is imperceptible. Its movement is not entirely predictable, but not entirely mysterious either, if you pay attention.

But the core self does not change, cannot be changed, and cannot be destroyed. And you may only see it and know it after everything else has been annihilated.

I think it is good that on most days, in most lives, everything else matters more.

(by Perrin)

“I certainly do not hope to alter the world. Perhaps I can put it best by saying that I hope to alter my own vision of the world. I want to be more and more myself. As ridiculous as that may sound.

Where the writing is concerned, I did nothing consciously. I followed my nose. I blew with every wind. I accepted every influence, good or bad. My intention was, as I said, merely to write. Or to be a writer,  more justly. Well, I’ve been it.

Now I just want – to be.

Remember, I beg you, that this infinitive is “transitive” in Chinese. And I am nothing if not Chinese.

Does this help? If not, walk on – and over me.

(from Henry Miller on Writing p. 141)

Self ~

ponders the silver sliver of moon
absorbs spring sunshine
invents toys

cooks everyone’s meals
cleans other people’s clothes
covets music

laughs about love
mourns lost love
peers thru the lens at other selves

treats poverty pain and shame as shameful
drums into a new way
adores the green buds of fruit trees in march

revels in chocolate
puts on make-up
gets to work late

captures her shadow
builds wooden shelves
tears up old journals

lives life anew every moment

(by Leanne Grossman)

” I, if I exist, am not an idea, nor am I the fact that several ideas may exist, one of which remembers the other.

If I exist, I am a living creature to whom ideas are incidents, like aeroplanes in the sky; they pass over, more or less followed by the eye, more or less listened to, recognised, or remembered; but the self slumbers and breathes below, a mysterious natural organism, full of dark yet definite potentialities; so that different events will awake it to quite disproportionate activities.

The self is a fountain of joy, folly, and sorry, a waxing and waning, stupid and dreaming creature, in the midst of a vast natural world, of which it catches but a few transient and odd perspectives.”

(From Scepticism and Animal Faith p.149)

“When we consider the kinship of all life on Earth, is it plausible that humans have immortal souls and all other animals do not?

How much are we really in charge of ourselves? And how much of our actual everyday behavior is on automatic pilot?

Each species has a different model of reality mapped into its brain. No model is complete. Every model misses some aspects of the world.

If we imagine that we are purely, or even mainly, rational beings, we will never know ourselves.”

(From Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors )

What is Self? Share your art & writing on this topic on-line and/or at the upcoming exhibition on May 8, 9 and 10th in Oakland, CA.

Artists: click here for details and submission guidelines.

Writers: click here for details and submission guidelines.

Everyone can participate: click here to find out how.

How would Freud answer the question, What is Self?

Or what about Jesus or Marilyn Monroe or Eleanor Roosevelt or the Dali Lama? How would they answer the question?

Check back frequently (or sign up for the RSS feed)…new “answers” from artists, atheists, children, famous people, philosophers, psychologists, scientists, spiritutal teachers, theologians, writers and others will be posted as they are discovered.

Add your favorite What is Self? quotes, videos and art to the mix. Join the conversation.

You can post in comments or send your stuff by email to lanell [at] breatheonelove [dot] com.

Fun!