Holonic Art Movement
Now let me tell you another story about another project. The idea of the Holonic Art Movement became a reality in January 2006 when I painted a foundation of sanded grout onto a 12” x 12” canvas, gessoed it, pasted a line from a magazine onto it, and handed it to Roger Lee, my typography teacher at the local community college.
The term “
holon” was coined by Arthur Koestler in his book “The Ghost in the Machine” and describes something that is simultaneously a whole and a part of something bigger. I would consider myself an introverted extrovert. I'm shy at first, not a person to start a conversation, but once somebody invites me in, I'm in 100%. I enjoyed painting by myself, and I also enjoyed meeting with other artists and talking about techniques and inspirations. But I wanted to make stuff WITH other people. I like being my own whole, but I aso craved being a part of something bigger. I was getting more and more frustrated about the fact that we would meet and TALK about art, then go back home to our studios to make art, only to meet up again a month later to TALK about what we had done. I wanted to MAKE art together and talk about it while we're making. I wanted to get inspired by the steps in between a blank canvas and a finished piece, the steps that you rarely get to see. I wanted to challenge myself and others to try new things.
So, over the next 29 months or so, I took unfinished pieces of art to monthly meetings of the oil, pastel and acrylic group at the local Museum of Art. I asked if anybody would like to paint more on the painting and bring it back to the next meeting. I also connected with artists in the online art community
DeviantArt. I ended up sending small panels to artists across the world and they sent them back to me (only one form Peru got lost). The project earned me an artist grant and it culminated in an exhibition at CorkStop Studios. It brought together over 70 artists from around the world in a collaborative project. Those artists were each a whole and part of something bigger - a holon, hence the name for the project.