One of my long-time fascinations is the variety of expression possible when paint on brush is brought to paper by different hands. Years ago when I took a Chinese Brush Painting class, we studied pine branches and plum blossoms; I found the differences between each student’s application of paint to be startling and refreshing. In the class I teach, "Movement for Painters and Painting for Movers" (MPPM), I use the starkness of black paint on paper to indicate and track the influence of movement in image making.
“It is encouraged by the premise of the Feldenkrais Method, that you are not learning the right way to move, but more possibilities in how to move/sense/think/feel.”
If you paint, make art, dance, or act, you walk through the world observing people/animals/plants/ buildings/machinery and how they relate in dimensional space. The experience of Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement® (ATM®) lessons lead into exploring paint, brush, and paper in MPPM. It’s a way to encourage creative activities to flow easily and spontaneously. In class we do not focus on producing artwork, but rather on exploring this process: how your relationship to yourself through movement lessons extends to painting on paper.
For someone with no art experience, the subtle alterations of oneself from ATM lessons, when applied to painting can open a vast world of expression quickly. Self-knowledge developed during the lessons gives confidence that is applicable beyond one’s movements. It is encouraged by the premise of theFeldenkrais Method® of somatic education, that you are not learning the right way to move, but more possibilities in how to move/sense/think/feel. In our practice, each movement provides an opportunity for new discoveries, which helps relieve students of uncertainties in the next act – of putting marks on paper. Artists of every medium, including music, dance, and theater, can use this Method to stimulate their imagination and creative practice. Whether an artist is in a very productive period or is feeling stuck, this synthesis can free the process of creating to inspire new ways of working and new imagery to arise. For me, it’s like coming home - pure fun!
This article was written by Margot. You can read more articles like this one where it was originally published, FeldenkraisMethod.com