These experiences in your class have opened me up to a different sense of space. I have found places that were made by little old me with a line or a patch of color or texture, that make me want to go beyond or behind or under that space to see or experience what is there.
Last week I made a collage of drawings I had done in earlier classes, and welcomed myself into a new and thrilling space where I felt people could live in a completely different way, open, surprising, unfamiliar but comfortable, and intelligent…intelligent because it felt experimental, but as a way of life. The implied shapes beckoned me to see what was around the corner, or behind the curtain, what was underneath, or outside. It’s like being a traveller.
Thank you.
M.H.L
I feel like I have become more aware of my surroundings. I’m noticing things in a different way meaning everything I look at whether it’s shapes, forms, colors, nature, objects, light they have taken on a new definition and a new detail. This is happening in my thought process and through my eyes. As I’ve study aspects of art through out my life this time it feels more within me… more conscious. I have less control over my work but sense a new found freedom and ability in this new process of doing art. The sense of discovery is coming from within myself. I also feel more clarity in other aspects of my life. Some of the layers of self doubt and fear have lightened. I’m moving closer to understand me, the person, the artist, the deeper soul.
M.L.
The mark-making classes have provided pleasure and growth for me in several domains. It was a joy to be exposed to art materials and to have a time and space for making marks, a form of play that has rarely been part of my adult life. I enjoyed the exploration of being non-representational in my marks and learning to be moved by images, emotions, or body states, rather than a performative focus on the work being appealing to another eye. As my work with mark-making has deepened, I appreciate how making marks provides a non-verbal way to connect to inner states and the imaginal. Also, it has been very satisfying and fun to connect with others who are drawn to this exploration.
G.K.
For me, the experience of the mark making group was one of discovery, joy, and liberation. Step by step, I was guided to my hidden spring of creativity. to the interior source of the imaginal realm. The prompts offered by the facilitator, Kat Taylor, included deep and provocatively playful questions which all led in that same direction, to more freedom, more joy. The materials we used- lush charcoal, swooshes of ink, explosions of color pigments-allowed for uninhibited exploration. I think I can say for everyone that we danced with marks on the page. Now that I know the path, it’s there for me. It has been a remarkable experience that has changed me and will stay with me. I am grateful to everyone in the mark making group and to Pamela and Kat. What delight to be on the page, and in the imaginal realm together!
S.P.
Annunciation
Even if I don’t see it again- nor feel it
I know it is- and that if once it hailed me
it ever does
And so it is myself I want to turn in that direction
not as a toward a place, but it was a titling
within myself,
as one turns a mirror to flash the light to where
it isn’t- I was blinded like that- and swam
in what shone at me
only able to endure it by being no one and so
specifically myself I thought I’d die
from being loved like that.
Marie Howe
“Kat’s Mark Making class was the joy of my week – the one thing I really looked forward to.
Each session allowed me to let go of trying to make art that was beautiful, more important, let go of the trying. With Kat’s process of guidance, my authentic style emerged from deep within – every stroke was a conversation with my soul. Each session was fun, relaxing, insightful, and rejuvenating. It will be something I will carry with me into my future paintings or playings.”
I really did enjoy the classes very much. Thank you for offering these classes. It has changed how I see my art making and has allowed me to let go of expectation and just go with what is.
D.T.