Fairytales, Archetypes and Visionary Art to Achieve Inner Authenticity (2 part series)

Live from Afidnes, Greece

Fairytales, archetypes, the unseen emotions and imaginations... realms that allow us to transcend our everyday and discover extraordinary truths that have been with us all along. VAWAA artist, photomontage artist, and art educator Annette, taps into art's visual and emotional language to navigate these ephemeral spaces. 

Over 2 consecutive Saturdays, beginning March 5th at 12PM EST, we will discover how art can be a tool to deepen your experience of self and foster your individuation process. There will be lively presentations, visualization exercises and hands-on mixed media creativity.

All levels are welcome and there is no prior experience required. There will be plenty of time to share, get feedback and meet other participants from around the world.

If you are not in EST time zone, be sure to convert the time.

Session 1: March 05 12PM - 2PM EST Fairytales and archetypes: discovering your personal visual language

In the first session, we will look at Carl Jung’s active imagination: how he proposes to visualize emotions, ideas and beliefs into characters of a personal fairy tale that appear from the unconscious. Jung calls these personal archetypes. An example of an archetype many artists meet in their daily life is for instance the Inner Critic, or the belief “I am only valuable when successful”. Both can be turned into a human or mythical being with the help of the imagination and given a role in your life-story.

We will work with "the story of your life as the fairytale of your life", and discover exciting meaningful, personal images and colors through visualization exercises, that can be used in a collage, zine, or painting.

Session 2: March 12 12PM - 2PM EST Visionary Art: inspired by themes of spiritual, mystical or inner awareness

The word "visionary" has come to be associated with "outsider and self-taught" artists. What unites these various groups of artists is the driving force and source of their art: their unconventionally intense imaginations, the full spectrum of the vast visionary dimensions of the mind. 

In this session, we will dive into these visionary realms. We will look at the work of visionary artists to get in the mood: the spiral paintings of Gaia Orion, the soulful doodles of Solange Knopf, the mythical beings of Louise Despont and the stardreaming of James Jereb PhD and his Temples of the Cosmos; a landart project in New Mexico. And we will research the “visionary” in our own space of thinking and being. We will do a guided imaginary exercise and use whatever we meet on our imaginative journey in our first visionary artwork!

Stardreaming by James Jereb Ph.D

What you'll need

Pen, paper/notebook, pencil, charcoal, paint, magazine cut outs, scissors, UHU stick glue paper and cardboard to use as background for collage — whichever medium you feel comfortable with or wish to explore!

How to join

We'll be hosting this VAWAA Online on Zoom. We'll send the link and details to join via email a few hours before each session begins.

About Annette

Annette is a collage and photomontage artist based in Athens beautiful countryside. Trained in prestigious art schools in United States, France, Austria and Greece, she has been focusing on collage, photomontage and mixed media for three decades. Led by a passion for theatre and the human soul, her photo montages look like "film stills" of human relationships and made with scissors, glue, found photographs or photographs taken by her. She creates collage portraits that are deconstructions of familiar everyday faces, to shed light into the sinews of their being. She strives to merge fantasy and reality in each composition that lead us to the dreamland of human emotions. Dostoyevsky, Ibsen, Bergman and Hitchcock inspire her, including collage artists like Hannah Hoch, Max Ernst, Martha Rosler and John Stezaker.

Visit her artist page to learn more about her in-person VAWAA.

Reviews

"This was GREAT and I'm inspired, I'd love a longer version!" - Meryl Ann

"This workshop was a phenomenal way to begin the transition from 2021 into 2022. The guided imagery exercises sparked creativity and prompted a powerful collage Self Portrait (in a 2-hour timeframe!) I loved the supportive atmosphere developed by the artist instructor." - Susan

"This was a delightful hands-on experience which allows us to tap into our inner selves and try to express what we find. Annette is an excellent teacher and clearly knows what she’s doing." - T.

"I enjoyed the format very much. Seeing examples by artists, followed by the guided fantasy and then time given to create our self portrait triggered ideas and images. I needed more time though I appreciate how limited time and materials can also serve to enhance the creative process. I am sorry I could not stay to see all the works of other participants." - Anna Marina

"Annette's guided meditation was one of the most useful creative triggers for conceptualising an inner landscape that could actually inspire imagery I could create in the moment. Just wish there was a way for more interaction during the process of creation. Ah well, lockdown eh!" - Lyn

"I loved the meditation into yourself and the quote. everything was very well planned for the class. I would love to take another with her. I also enjoyed the music while we were all working. I also overall love learning where everyone is from around the world." - Elfe

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