Night Shaking – A Research Project Funded By A-N Bursary (2019)

Our final bursary funded meet up took Dean and myself back to London to the rare book archives of the Wellcome Library. I had requested in advance some of their 17th century alchemical manuscripts and these had been bought up and were ready and waiting in the viewing room on our arrival.

It was spine tingling to see the physical pages of writings and illustrations charting the journey and learning of some of the individuals who had worked within the Magnum Opus.

The archetypal figure of Mercurious has been a constant presence in this project – surprising and transmuting at every turn. Seeing his name within the latin writings serves as a reminder we are not to expect things to draw to a close in the way we expect. He is likely not done with us yet.

Leaving the collection we went on to meet artist Andrea Zucchini who is training in Jungian analytical psychology and incorporates this into his artwork.  Really valuable conversation that gave us much to reflect on. A very talented and authentic artist who I hope we can speak with again.

The visit finished with a visit to the William Blake exhibition to discuss visionary art and creating new mythology. As the research project draws to a close we are discussing what the next steps are for both of us in terms of translating this learning.

The summer has been a period settling deeper into the Jungian and alchemical teachings that have resulted from our bursary funded “night shaking” project. Dean and myself have continued in our personal readings and researching of the subject matter but have both felt the recent months have been about assimilating the learning on a deep and personal level.

During these months we have been physically making work in the studio but have both noticed a shift in that the objects and paintings produced are almost by-products of the living process that has become the “true art”.

Symbolic Alchemy is known as the Royal Art, an eternal art of transformation. We have been researching this inner alchemy as a symbolic representation of Jung’s individuation process and how it maps onto our personal lives – our own mercurial journeys.

We have connected to the personal unconscious through active imagination activities and have been unpacking symbols within the collective unconscious such as key characters and events in greek mythology.

As we enter the final official months of our project, planning our final research trip, we both are realising that this labyrinth we have entered will be one we will be journeying deeper into indefinitely.

Dean Melbourne post

On 2oth June we had the opportunity to deliver a talk/workshop at the Reading Room of the  Wellcome Collection’s   as part of their Open platform series. It was a great opportunity to share our research learning to date.

Getting to spend time in amongst the resources of the Reading Room has been really inspiring all the way through our research phase. The Alchemy section being linked with Jung’s work and in particular his Red Book have proved invaluable .

Open Platform is about introducing members of the public to the collection in new ways. Meaning that more diverse voices are heard and the range of ways the collection influences projects shared.

Our session took the form of information sharing and using images from the collection as reference and then a chance for “creative play” with some of the alchemical symbols.

Delivering a session like this was really useful in helping us consolidate our learning up to this point. In the one hour session we were able to give an over view of Jung’s notion of Alchemy as analogues to the development of the human psyche. We shared a key overview of the colour stages of the Alchemical process and the explored the exciting world of symbols and meaning.

Around 30 people attended the session. These included other artist and researchers and members of the public passing through the collection.

In the exercise we asked participants to arrange symbols into their own pattern to describe a particular challenge they faced and then to resolve that image by editing or adjusting the diagram. In effect creating their own Alchemical instructions for resolution of difficulty.

Below are some of the feeback comments.

“The content of the talk was fascinating. Hands on presentation of images, excellent activity engaging and thought provoking within a well constructed hour.”

“Great information and engaging presenters”

“The talk was very interesting, the level of research was compelling and left me wanting to know more.”

” dynamic presentation”

“Enjoyable, playful session that sits well within Wellcome”

“A new facet of Jungian Alchemy”

Dean and I met in Bruton for a two day alchemical workshop with Jungian analyst Catherine Bygott. ⁣

⁣Our sessions with Catherine seem to have been building to this point and it was a highly charged, emotional and influential time. As we worked through active imagination exercises, spontaneous sculpture building and responsive drawings we realised how interwoven our research practice and personal alchemical journeys had become.⁣

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Mercurius rose as a key character of importance – the volatile and transforming influence seemingly at work in the days before and after the workshop as well as during. We have much to continue processing.⁣

Synchronicity was at work as the current exhibition at Hauser & Wirth a short walk away, was “Unconscious Landscape”. We visited the day after the workshop, and used the time to reflect on what the physical outcome of this research project might look like.⁣

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We were able to extend our time together a little further as Dean came back to West Dorset with me to continue our discussions and visit my studio and some of the new work that had been taking place recently. With conversations of ritual and the influence of the elements on the psyche the visit was completed with a bracing entry into the grey seas.

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This is the first contribution to this blog by Dean Melbourne. As the project is collaborative it seemed to make sense that one blog would better reflect the tone of experiences as opposed to the repetition of two very similar records. . . 

Over this last week our research project stepped up a gear with a visit to the capital to attend a lecture organised by the C.G. Jung Club, spend some time at the British Museum with the Ancient Egypt collection and visit the studio of Artist Victoria Rance.

The C.G. Jung Club host a rolling programme of Thursday evening lectures covering wide ranging aspects of Jungian thinking. This particular lecture was given by Eva Wertenschlag-Birkhäuser and was entitled What is the Great Dream?

Birkhäuser is a Jungian analyst in Bern and trained at the Jung Institute, Zurich. The talk centred around a selection of paintings by Peter Birkhäuser (the speakers father) who after a “crisis” of creativity in mid-life entered therapy with Marie Von Franz and began painting his dreams. The particular focus on of this talk was on “individuation as the vessel for transformation of archetypal powers threatening our culture”.

For me personally Peter’s story seemed frighteningly familiar and closely mirrored my own recent journey through crisis of psyche. Hearing the symbolic links with the alchemical process and the archetypal within an individual’s dream work was revealing. Even more the way that that individual experience reflected the collective state of world events at that time.

The following day we spent an afternoon at the British Museum looking at Ancient Egyptian objects. The roots of Hermetic thinking begin to be gathered in Egyptian culture and particularly the merging of the Greeks Hermes with the Egyptian God Thoth to become Hermes Trismagistus, the supposed scribe of the Emerald Tablet containain the Hermetic Laws. The objects, making process and symbolism of this time and place seem to resonate with the energy of secret knowledge. We were soon exhausted and overwhelmed with ideas and the threads of thought that seemed to be demanding to be followed.

It will take some time to process all that we saw.

Our final day saw us head to APT studios in Depford to visit the studio of Victoria Rance.

Victoria’s studio space is just wonderful. A treasure trove of work, materials and tools. Chantal and Victoria have in common some making techniques and were able to share experiences of these. For me as I find my way to a new practice Victoria’s example as curious, authentic and deeply committed to her exploration of the imagination and making were just what I needed. A moving and impactful couple of hours that I think will resonate with me for some time. I would like to thank her on behalf of us both for her genouristy and openness.

Whilst at APT studios we visited the Creekside Open which was beautifully curated and felt both sincere and welcoming. Some wonderful work and great to see the work of artists I rarely get to see in the flesh. Was great to get to chat with Jane Millar and Robert Worley whilst there (both showing work in the open).

An intense few days that will move our thinking on tremendously. As we progress towards “NightShaking”.