The Mysterious Link Between the Subconscious and Art

There have been a few times when I’ve stepped back from my studio table, taken a look at my newly completed piece, and noticed what I’ve done without thinking. My hands and mind have communicated and I’ve made a subconscious connection in my work. Isn’t it fascinating how the mind works?

Recently, I spent almost a week away from my studio because the three of us had strep throat. My six-year-old, sick and still full of energy, was my constant companion. When he returned to school, I went back to my studio.

I decided to begin with some letterpress printing and took out a bin of small wooden type. I’m always more interested in the white space I can create with prints and will put together any combination of letters. I don’t think about what letters I’m using, and that’s the key point of this story. I inked up my brayer and started pulling prints. When the ink ran out, I looked at the sheets on the drying rack.

Mama. The word I had just heard a thousand times over the last few days.

It seems unbelievable that I didn’t realize what I was spelling with the letters I’d selected.

My son was back in school, but my subconscious couldn’t let go of the word. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, but it was the most powerful.

I wonder how often I don’t realize what my mind and hands have done together.

This is Arctic Ocean, a piece, now sold, from The Atlas Collection.

I began this piece with a slice of a map of the Arctic Ocean. Then I started adding the typographic elements. Once the piece was complete, I saw that I’d used “A” and “O”- a repetition of the letters of Arctic Ocean.

This seems impossible to force, but instead the artist just has to let the work develop and be surprised by the connections later on. When so much emphasis is put on technology, I think these moments of recognition are particularly powerful. And when someone looks at my work, I hope their memories are activated and they are brought on a journey that’s different from the one I went on to create the piece.

These moments of intuition and serendipity are fascinating to experience but hard to replicate. Surrealists were interested in the role of the subconscious, and I found a brief article from the Museum of Modern Art that includes some activities to access your subconscious. Some of them would be really interesting to try with children.

I’m looking forward to seeing the next piece of art that my subconscious helps me create.