ARTisYOGA

 Art is a contemplative, spiritual practice...

 ...that allows us to take the inward journey as far as we wish to travel. Contemplative approaches to art help to visually manifest, reshape, and transcend the fluctuations of our thinking – feeling – relational – and spiritual self-identities...

…when art is blended with meditation, or combined with yoga, we learn to join the finite experience of our embodiment with an expansive view of the infinite consciousness that we are. As an awareness practice, art inquires into this numinous equation by moving between non-conceptual curiosity, manifested forms, and the expansiveness of ineffable essence.  Much of the artwork in the gallery section of this site is inspired by this premise.

Lastly, art is a form of Karma Yoga or devotional social engagement. Rather than insist on ownership of outcomes, we align with our intentions to openly serve each unfolding moment as forms of selfless worship.

And there is more to say about art and yoga, art and meditation, and art and imaginal traditions. For more information on these topics please see:

"Art as Contemplative Practice: Expressive Pathways to the SELF"

 Reviews:

From the book jacket: 1. "This is a thoroughly groundbreaking work that demonstrates how art can be a contemplative way of being and pathway to the Self. It reveals the creative, imaginal side of our humanity to be a sacred ground from which grows the wholeness of both the individual practitioner and the larger community." -- Fran Grace, University of Redlands 2. "One of the book's notable features is the author's honesty, candor, and openness in discussing the healing benefits of contemplative creativity in his own experience." -- William K. Mahony, Davidson College 3. "The book's breadth of experiments and useful images in art therapy and meditative traditions is its greatest strength." -- Cliff Edwards, Virginia Commonwealth University

Art Therapy: The Journal of the American Art Therapy Association Reviewed by Pat B. Allen (below are selections from Dr. Allen’s review): Art as Contemplative Practice: Expressive Pathways to the SELF invites the reader into a metameditation as we contemplate the author contemplating his own mind. There is an ethereal quality to the writing as Michael A. Franklin gently flows from one subject to the next. The palace of his mind has many rooms, all furnished with complex tapestries of ideas drawn from yoga, art history, cultural constructs, analytic and psychoanalytic theory, and various arts practices. Additionally, Franklin brings his many years of teaching art therapy students, his early clinical work, and his own art practice to us to illustrate and amplify the ideas gleaned from the study of a num- ber of Eastern spiritual traditions including Sufism, Kashmir Shaivism, Vipassana meditation, and Karma Yoga…

…In Franklin’s writing, we witness his intimate sharing of his experience of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery through his reflections, his art making, and his contemplation of life and death…

…“Contemplative practices are forms of interior research” in Franklin’s view (p. xxix) and the subject of this research is the self; not merely the quotidian daily self, but that self that yearns to merge with something greater. When we engage in contemplative art, we are seeking to be “alone with the Alone” in solitude and in so doing, “the organ-like facility of the imagination will reveal meaningful symbols that go beyond rational allegory toward deeper numinous mystery.” (pp. 92–93)

• For the complete review, see: Pat B. Allen (2018) A Review of "Art as Contemplative Practice: Expressive Pathways to the SELF", Art Therapy, 35:2, 108-109, DOI: 10.1080/07421656.2018.1490611

Creative Arts in Therapy and Education Dr. Rainbow Tin Hung Ho The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Open access: https://caet.inspirees.com/caetojsjournals/index.php/caet/article/view/326 Michael Franklin’s book invites readers to undertake an in-depth reflection on what happens during the art creation process, in relation to the self, others, and the universe. With my experience as a therapist, artist, researcher, and teacher, I brought these four (different) perspectives to this review, viewed through the lens of my Chinese culture. I was stunned by the book’s richness, presented as multilayered knowledge and insights that resonated across all my experiences and viewpoints. Insights came in nearly every paragraph and often from single sentences,

Studies in Art Education Reviewed by Jane E. Dalton (below are selections from Dr. Dalton’s review): Franklin’s writing style is well organized, deeply reflective, and rife with personal experience that sheds light on the multiple ways art and contemplative practice holds the power to be deeply transformative, promote resiliency, and support healing. The author explains how art as a contemplative practice cultivates a finely tuned intuitive awareness to “listen, hear, and honor intangible interior processes” (p. xxiv), which in turn allows one to be authentic and let work emerge from the inner necessity to create and express. Through a range of approaches, such as breath awareness, meditation, silence, and reflection, Franklin demonstrates how the contemplative mind is opened through an engagement with art practices…

The book's breadth of experiments, exercises, tables and rubrics throughout provide helpful tools to navigate Franklin’s approach to art as a contemplative practice using a variety of media and techniques: 2D materials such as paint, pencil, chalk, and 3D works such as clay as a practice to examine and evolve the Self. Franklin brings his understanding and concern for using art as a tool to cultivate resiliency for those faced with personal and societal challenges, which may be helpful to teachers working with at-risk, marginalized populations or young adolescents in schools, or for bringing holistic awareness and activities into the classroom…

Art as Contemplative Practice reminds the reader that art is a powerful and transformative tool, one that is essential to being alive and engaged with life. And while art and spirituality may feel incongruous or a charged topic to the art educator, Dustin and Ziegler (2007) remind us that for many artists “the ‘making’ of art is, fundamentally, an exercise in contemplative seeing” and for such artists the practice of art is “inseparable from the practice of being alive” (p. ix). Likewise, Art as a Contemplative Practice offers a much needed antidote to the busyness of life by providing ways to access stillness, reflection, and creativity as a pathway to self-discovery.

• For the complete review see: Jane E. Dalton (2019) A Review of Art as Contemplative Practice: Expressive Pathways to the Self, Studies in Art Education, 60:2, 144-147, DOI: 10.1080/00393541.2019.1600228

Deborah J. Haynes https://deborahjhaynes.com (Emerita Professor of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado, Boulder and author of, “Beginning Again: Reflections on Art as Spiritual Practice” published by Cascade Book, Eugene, Oregon.) Michael Franklin's book is founded on core principles and values about the transformative power of art. He shows again and again how the artist, the work of art, and the audience are totally interdependent. I found his 37 declarative statements that articulate ways of thinking about art to be most meaningful. This book is also a powerful example of integrated theory and practice. Franklin's autobiographical reflections interact with philosophical and historical content. And these aspects of the book are balanced by extensive practical guidance about materials, techniques, and exercises that readers will find compelling. Most highly recommended for readers interested in exploring a range of contemplative approaches from prayer to yoga and meditation.

 © Michael A. Franklin PhD, ATR-BC, 2013  all rights reserved