This is not a juried show; all artists who submit will be represented in next month’s newsletter.
Artist Interview: Jeni Fiske
group: Amherst Diamond Approach, Amherst MA
Q: How long have you been in the work?
Jeni: I was first introduced to the Diamond Approach in 1996 and over the years it called and I dabbled. Eight years ago I began trauma work with a therapist who was an advanced DA student and is now a teacher. This kept me close to and reignited my interest in doing the work. I began taking online classes and participating in online inquiry groups four years ago and two years ago I found my teacher and became a serious student. I have been blessed to be able to attend the ADA group weekends online for the past year and was just accepted to DHO1.
Q: Tell us a little about your medium, style of work, process.
Process Painting: I began process painting three years ago and use tempera paint on large sheets of paper taping more paper on when the painting wants to expand. Sometimes I begin with a state of mind, a situation or a feeling that is currently alive in me, but as much as possible I allow colors and images to come through spontaneously and without much thought as I practice staying in a place of listening, non-judgement and respect. Nothing gets covered up in service to making a “good” painting or because it seems ugly, too vulnerable or scary. The painting guides me rather than me guiding the painting and it gives me glimpses into hidden parts of my psyche which I can’t access in any other way. Sometimes as I am painting I will hear or get a feeling about what certain images represent and sometimes not.
Screams, Tempera on paper, 26”x42”
“I know that this was one of the first process paintings I ever created since in the “rules” for this particular process once you begin painting you don’t change the orientation. I turned this one upside down and immediately saw what looked like a phone and that image brought forward many parts of a story around the screaming and anger that surrounded me in my childhood.”
Birth, Tempera on paper, ~4’ x 24’
“This is the largest process painting I have painted. It kept wanting more and more paper. I had to trick it into stopping by cutting it in half and taping the bottom edge to the top edge so that the top and bottom were integrated and adding more paper would have broken the continuity.”
Healing Doll Work: I began doll making through The Healing Doll Way in January 2020 and see it as a three‐dimensional extension of what began in process painting. I start in a place of not knowing and let the doll come through one step at a time. The dolls often represent parts of me that I can love, hold, nurture and interact with in ways that I can’t do with a painting. Occasionally a doll is inspired by a prompt or a theme but most have emerged as if they just wanted to exist and many of their stories are still waiting to unfold.
Scapegoat #2, Wire armature, fabric, Model Magic, paint, polymer clay, 19” including the removable turntable.
‘This is a scapegoat doll which incorporates my thinking side, my creative side, a hungry ghost part, a part that still believes I am broken, the inner critic and a part that wants every shiny new thing. The hands are coming out of the head instead of on the ends of the arms and one of the last details was giving the creative side a hand when I realized that creativity is where my power lies.”
Q: How is your work influenced by the Diamond Approach?
Jeni: The Diamond Approach and my art support and influence each other. Each inquiry and each piece of art is a mystery that unfolds one step at a time revealing new information about who or what I am. Each gives me the opportunity to slow down and dive beneath the surface of my ordinary awareness as each form requires listening closely, seeing with an inner eye and discriminating between what is deep and true and what is ego or a habit pattern. The end result is always a surprise and most often a delight. The Diamond Approach work continues to expand both my understanding of the complexity of being human and my capacity to hold space for whatever shows up.
Welcome to the virtual DAG art gallery.
Here are the submissions from the last month’s call for art,
“Density”
Thomas Hensel (DAI: Diamond Approach Italy) Density, acrylic on paper, 13x18 cm
Alexis St. John, DHR5
Amassing Density, digital painting
Sara Todd, CASC3 (Seattle)
Grabbing for Oil Money, collage
Sara Todd, CASC3 (Seattle)
Bone and Brick Density, drawing
Bindi, (private teacher Bill Walsh) Skeleton Leaf and Trees, collage painting, 9” x 24"
Bindi, (private teacher Bill Walsh) Mountain View, collage painting, 18” x 24"
Lucy Johnson, CASC3 (Seattle) Mystery of Emergence, mixed-media, 17.5” x 22.5”
Lucy Johnson, CASC3 (Seattle) Several layers of density had been cleared away mixed-media, 17.5” x 22.5”
Jeni Fiske, ADA Layers, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 30"
Irmgard Himstedt, DANS2 Less Dense 1, ink, ash, pencil on paper, September 2021
In Buddhism there is a method to deal with problems: "Write the problem on a piece of paper and burn it!"
I wrote four of my problems on 4 pieces of paper and burned them. I put the ash in my almost empty teacup and dripped the liquid onto the paper...
During the process of drawing my brooding brain became less dense.
Irmgard Himstedt, DANS2 Less Dense 2, ink, ash, charcoal, pencil on sheet music paper, September 2021
There is a composition by Edgar Varèse called "Densitiy 21,5" for flute solo, dedicated to a friend for the inauguration of his platinum flute. 21,5 is the physical density of platinum.
'In the Diamond Approach platinum is the aspect of universal will. The base of the vehicle of the Citadel is of diamond platinum, the objective wisdom of the citadel's support. The citadel is an immense presence, dense and immovable.' (freely from DA/ glossary/platinum/InnerJourneyHomeP.242)
Back Issues
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