Creativity and Fluid MovementUntitled Document

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"Healing our sensual beings means we must be able to imagine what the fulfillment of our longing looks like and become more like it- loving ourselves and finding the Eros within. "

Creativity and Fluid Movement:
Longing & Being Met

by Suzanne Wright Crain, M.Ed.

“…All the forms and movements found in the human being appear spread out all around in nature. The opposite is also true. All movements and forms that the universe holds in readiness meet in the human being and are thus united at a higher level.”

Theodor Schwenk

Our organism is starving for Eros. The eclipsing of our true erotic nature through disassociation of the divine femine/masculine is disturbing. Through reenactment (making yourself like Eros) we can awaken our erotic, sensual, artistic natures and fully realize the beauty of our sexual/creative selves.

In my Fluid Movement & Creative Arts classes, we begin by using our breath, sounding, creative visualization and a playful spirit to access our essentially fluid nature. This inner work creates a resonant field, which deepens our connection to Eros through reenactment of personal and historic symbols and archetypes.

Each class encourages the relationship of movement, imagination and the creative act of drawing, painting, collage or assemblage to unfold in new and interesting ways. Eros cannot live in a body cut off from feelings, emotions, breath and movement. Some of the benefits you may expect from Fluid Movement classes include:

Greater self-esteem

Enhanced body image and sexuality

Deepening of spiritual connections

A safe environment for growth and renewal

Healthier bones and resilient muscles

Joint flexibility and increased range of motion

Softening of the aging process

An increase in vitality and awareness

Enhanced creativity, innovation and play

Renewed sense of humor and levity

Since October 2001, I have been working on mostly abstract paintings created using “living water” (water from unpolluted springs, wells, rivers..,) combined with the flow of bodily movement. I became interested in working with living water because of my environmental background and 5 years of studying “Continuum Movement and Continuum Montage.”

My current work is based on this unique field of movement education, pioneered by Emile Conrad and Susan Harper, which emphasizes the primacy of the fluid system.

“Continuum is at the same time a philosophical, scientific, artistic, musical, poetic, and spiritual concept, a cosmology, and an advanced state of consciousness. When applied to our affairs, continuum leads us naturally to a saner and happier world. In other words, continuum as an experience is a direct involvement in the harmony and congruence of our inner and outer realities. It enables us to live the real lives of our bodies.”

James Oschman,
Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance.
Some of the basic principles include: breath and sounding; wave motion; micro-movement; multiple relationships to gravity; layering sequences; tending sensation and open attention. Continuum Movement informs painting by creating deep body awareness invoking a sense of curiosity about our unfolding life, especially our origins in living water.

The link between “Living Water” in the paintings and the “Living Water” moving in the body allows a sort of interplay in fluid dynamics, creating a felt sense of resonance with the work. After presenting a play workshop in Cardiff, Wales in the fall of 2002, I became very ill. A few days later I was on the verge of going to the hospital for treatment when I experienced a water healing in the bathtub, in our London hotel room. During this healing I became one with water and was in this timeless place of Cosmic Consciousness. My husband was very surprised when I emerged from the bathroom radiant, glowing like a newborn and completely well.

My painting process usually begins at a spring or well, where I baptize the gesso prepared canvas or linen in the living water. I pull the fabric out of the source and I allow these images to suggest themselves to me through the initial flow of water onto the linen. Then, I interpret these flow forms and bring them out through the application of liquid acrylic paint moving my body and the fabric all the while, as the piece emerges. In working with the living water, especially in the Kentucky pieces, I lay the wet piece in the snow as I apply the paint. Ice crystals form a fan like pattern while the wetter areas run coalescing into bursts of color and form. As the water freezes to ice, the paint trapped beneath takes on the shape of the vortices and swirling streams. Later, I place the pieces in the sunlight to lift off the ice layer and allow them to dry. Beautiful patterns of life come through and dance about the surface.

After the underpaintings are dry I move back to my studio to complete the process. I’ve created a movement space there and after I stretch the larger paintings on frames I begin to move. I lie down on the floor and sense into myself using the methods taught in Continuum Movement. I often see the next step in the development of the image by moving where I can see the painting on an easel nearby. Sometimes I begin painting with brushes creating more definition in the piece.

I symbolically “eat” the image and imagine the composition inside myself and then I wait for something to happen, opening myself to the “emerging unexpected.”

The underpaintings are often so complex that it may take weeks to determine which direction the painting will take. The willingness and curiosity involved in allowing the image to develop simultaneously with the movement is essential to finishing the piece. The end results are fluid biomorphic sensual images in vibrant colors. These images express a deep connection to the cosmic consciousness inherent in the fluid system.

My weekly Continuum Movement classes are a combination of movement and creative expression. Beneath the mass confusion and mixed messages there is a place inside ourselves where we can recapitulate the ancient gods and goddesses of Eros. Healing our sensual beings means we must be able to imagine what the fulfillment of our longing looks like and become more like it- loving ourselves and finding the Eros within.

Suzanne Wright Crain, M.Ed. is a Continuum Movement teacher, artist, and playworker living and working in San Antonio, Texas. She facilitates the San Antonio Movement Group. As a newly authorized teacher of Continuum Movement she is mentored by Emilie Conrad. She studies Continuum Montage with Susan Harper.

To view her art, download class flyers, registration or more information
on “Fluid Movement” go to
http://suzannewrightcrain.com/movement.htm
or phone (210) 496-5692.
She shows her work around town and at her studio in the Blue Star Arts Complex.