Make Art, Make Meaning: How Creative Experimentation Rewires Your Inner World

This week on The Grotto we explore experimentation and the healing power of art. It all began with an interview. Not by me, or of me, but instead a dancer and tastemaker named Lexee Smith. Lexee was on a podcast called Nymphet Alumni and mentioned a figure who I had never heard of, but I was immediately fascinated by: Chilean surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.

My wheels started turning, and I wrote his name down in my notes app and left it at that. Simultaneously I was reading a particular chapter of Your Brain on Art, a book on neuroaesthetics. The chapter shared anecdotes about the ability of art therapy and aesthetics in general to mitigate ailments as varied as dementia, Parkinson’s and PTSD. It also mentioned my favorite psychotherapist, Carl Jung. ;)

I couldn’t help but wonder:

What better way to help myself feel better than to dive into my feeling stuck than through art?

How can I use my world as reference points to feel the way I want to feel?

go stand under the nearest blooming tree (assuming you don’t live in the desert ;) and see if you don’t feel even just a bit better

The 9 Floating Fountains of Japan— Isamu Noguchi

I hope you enjoy the episode,

x Brittany