My main faculty of orientation to the world is intuition and this intuition is central to my creative process. I do not approach my subjects; they approach me. This occurs in four basic ways: dreams, numinous experience of the object, suggestions from the inner voice and spontaneous visualization.

The concept for an image usually begins with a dream or a numinous experience of the object. The numinous experience can be described as a feeling of being transfixed by an object. The object seems to exude an aura of meaning and existence beyond its apparent worldly one. A vital connection to the object is felt that belies its mundane reality. There is a feeling of being caught in an electrical current, an energy that would convey the significance of the object in the form of a feeling, a knowing of the heart, not the head.

My state of mind is essential to the process. The object is never looked at directly, in a seeing way but is looked at in an indirect way, perhaps best described as gazing at a thing without seeing it. I suspend the intellect and accept the reality of the unseen, remaining in a state of suspension where I do not distinguish between what we think of as the real and the unreal, the seen and the unseen. Every fantasy is given the dignity of an object. Through the suspension of the intellect I attempt to maintain a state of receptivity in order that the unconscious can come in and guide me. Upon confronting the object, my eye turns inward to experience the response of the unconscious, to intuit where the thing has come from, where it is going and what wants to be associated with it. In primitive cultures this sort of experience was attributed to the "magical" qualities of the object. It was as though the object spoke to them.

This way of working requires a relationship to what the psychologist C.G.Jung calls 'spirit'. He defines spirit as that factor in the inner field of vision, which creates images and organizes them into a meaningful order. Each ensuing image is a progression and development, thus the spirit leads you somewhere. Jung tells us that each period in history has its sacred myth and that these myths evolve over the millennia. The myth forever transforms, as it must to reflect our ever-changing psychic needs. According to Jung a new sacred myth is in the process of evolving and it is this myth that the spirit would express. These paintings were created over the course of many months of receptivity to this inner world.

By sharing this experience with society through art, the artist provides a point of departure and recognition for those who, willingly or unwillingly, are encountering the spiritual world. In this way the artist allows the spirit access to the shaping of the culture and offers people an understanding of the spirit of the age in which they live.

S E L E C T E D    E X H I B I T I O N S

Indianapolis Museum of Art, "On Procession"; McCormack Forefront Galleries, Indianapolis, Indiana 2008

Gallery at Penn College, "Where Science Meets Art"; Penn College of Technology, Williamsport, PA 2007

Mall Galleries, "12th Annual Exhibition", Society for Art of Imagination; The Mall, London 2007

Museum Gallery, "Flights of Imagination", Museum HR Giger; Chateau St. Germain, Gruyeres, Switzerland 2006

Sullivan-Munce Cultural Center, "The Jewel World", solo exhibition; Zionsville, Indiana 2004

2004 International Juried Online Symbolist Art Show, "The Artist As Shaman"; Finalist

Beverly Arts Center, "Biennial-Midwest Fine Art Competition"; Chicago, Illinois 2004

Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, "Brave Destiny" an overview of contemporary surrealism; Brooklyn, New York 2003

The Gallery at Cork Street, "Annual Juried Exhibition for The Society for Art of imagination"; London, England 2003

Galleri Art, Society for Art of Imagination, exhibition sponsored by the Baron of Fulwood; Kirkcudbright, Scotland 2003

Two Person Show, Carol Spicuzza and Nina Marshall, Arts Place; Portland, Indiana

Manhattan Arts International; Artist Profile Award, "The Healing Power of Art", juried competition; New York 2003

Domont Studio Gallery, "Contemporary Women Artists of Indiana"; Juried exhibition, Indianapolis 2002

Arts Place, "Harvest Biennial", juried exhibition; Portland, Indiana 2001

L E C T U R E S    A N D    P R E S E N T A T I O N S

"A Community of Seekers", a commentary on the exhibition "The Jewel World" for the Spirit and Place Festival; Indianapolis, 2004

"Tapping the Well Within" - A discussion of the creative process and how it progresses with a psychological commentary on the painting The Eye of Night for the Central Indiana Friends of Jung, 2001

"The Spirit in Art" - An overview of the psychological and spiritual significance of art with a commentary on six recent paintings for the Central Indiana Friends of Jung, 1997

Documentary film by Olga Spiegel: The History of Visionary Art, interview on its psychological importance (work in progress)

P U B L I C A T I O N S

"Jung, Visionary Art and the Transformation of the God-image", winter 2006, Inscape magazine

E D U C A T I O N

1969 - 1973 B.S. Ball State University; Muncie, Indiana

Seminars in Jungian psychology presented by J. Gary Sparks, Diplomate, C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich:
     Linda Fierz-David, Women's Dionysian Initiation
     Erich Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness
     Erich Neumann, The Fear of the Feminine
     C. G. Jung, Nietzsche's Zarathustra
     Emma Jung & Marie-Louise von Franz, The Grail Legend
     Marie-Louise von Franz, Number and Time
     Marie-Louise von Franz, Aurora Consurgens