Plumbing the creative depths of the soul
This is a technique developed over decades by Tim Holmes, diving into drawing from a model to find one’s own true self.
We humans cannot help but project our unconscious material onto any other person.
In any interpersonal encounter what you experience in the person before you is an indecipherable amalgamation of the other’s personality and your own projections. Who is whom, really?
For each of the partners in an encounter, only some portion of the ingredients are conscious. No wonder the results are so enigmatic!
In Model-Artist Alchemy we attempt to unravel the complexities of this strange entity between ourselves and the other that forms a “third space”. By concentrating on the fact that our relationship reflects a moment––unique in all of history–– resulting from an inextricable combination of our personality features, we can begin to explore the mystery of the invisible realm of the psyche that forms perhaps the most important aspect of our lives.
Model-Artist alchemy is like a combination of theater, psychotherapy and professional wrestling. It is perhaps the first development of the ancient tradition of drawing from the nude since the 19th century, when women were first allowed in the studio as artists.
In our sessions we set up a kind of “relationship laboratory” where we encounter another (the other) in a somewhat intimate setting where each is provided safety and yet absolved of the responsibility that we assume in any normal interaction outside the lab.
With such mutually agreed measures in place, we are free to explore ourselves and the other with courage, curiosity and respect.
“The lab is carefully constrained, providing safety for all involved. This process has become a central theme of my work and has produced some of my most creative art. But it has also deeply influenced the models I’ve worked with. Now we are sharing this technique to encourage others to explore in their own way.” – Tim Holmes