A Heroine's Journey Intervention; The Power Of Art To Change Minds

Where are the artists, poets, storytellers, and musicians we need now to effectively change hearts and minds to transform our troubled world? We need deep intervention.

I know where they are – they are all of you, Heroines.

Weeping Norwegian Spruce

They are hulking figures – maybe five or six or more! They are what I notice first as I drive up the driveway.  It would be impossible not to notice. Dark bending boughs of fir, conifers, Weeping Norwegian Spruces, to be precise. They are a brooding presence as I approach this gem of an art gallery tucked away in the woods, in my hometown of Woolwich, Maine. They are evocative and moody… the perfect foil to the simplicity of the gallery I’m about to see.

I’m here because of what happens every summer. My friend comes for her summer vacation, and she invites me to explore with her. Why don’t I do it on my own? You may think I’m crazy to live in such a beautiful state and not get out every day to see what the tourists come to see. But any of you who live in a place where people come from away to admire where you live in every season, you know what I’m talking about. I can go anytime, I think – and then I don’t. It takes my dear friend, a “summer person” to draw me out and I am so grateful for it

Sarah Bouchard Gallery

The Sarah Bouchard Gallery space is spare. White walls. Two rooms were designed to bring our attention to the paintings on the walls. It’s beautifully designed. There’s nothing else to detract our eye – except what’s outside the several long windows – those weeping spruces. They are with us still. They are part of our gallery visit.

Sarah Bouchard Gallery

I’m not an artist, nor an art aficionado. My friend is the latter. She knows what’s beautiful and has a striking collection of paintings. I might not “know art,” but I know the spell that beauty casts. I know it can give you what I call, “a moment.” Those times when we’re so in the present, taken by what we’re seeing that time slows way down and we exist in utter appreciation of the experience.

I had such a moment visiting Sarah’s gallery last week. I felt the collective impact of those larches leaning towards the windows as if to catch what we were saying within, the gallery space, itself, and then, of course, the paintings.

Vivien Russe’s exhibit, Networks, is what brought us there. Here’s what Sarah writes on her website, about the collection: “Vivien Russe’s gem-like paintings fuse imagery from Nature, architecture, geometry, and world religions to explore humanity’s impact on the environment. The beauty of her work magnifies a much deeper message.” And then Bouchard quotes Russe: “The need to recognize the interconnection of all life is more critical than ever.” – Vivien Russe, 2024

“The interconnection of all life.” … is communicated through her paintings and this I know is what we all need to know in order to help our earth and us survive.

Vivien Russe, Artist

Vivien Russe lives in South Portland, Maine.  What caught me immediately as I stood in that tranquil gallery space were the gold circles surrounding the images in several of her paintings. A gold circle surrounds a maidenhair fern in a painting, seed pods in another, lichen in another. I asked Sarah what the circle signifies to Russe and she said, sacredness. Here’s from Russe’s artist’s statement in the brochure: Russe had just completed a visit to view Renaissance works in Italy where most of the paintings of the divine were depicted in human form: “Trying to address how our human needs are increasingly in conflict with the natural world, I wanted to flip this equation, and put nature in a divine space, giving it more weight. Why is lichen less holy than St. Peter??”

 VIVIEN RUSSE.  Finding.  10” x 10” (each). Acrylic and gold leaf on panel. 2021. PHOTO CREDIT: Luc Demers.

Exactly.

That moment in Sarah’s gallery brought me to this: Artists, poets, storytellers, and musicians are needed more now than ever in this time on our planet when words seem to fail us as we try to communicate. We need to avail ourselves of those channels that reach deeper inside us, that penetrate our hearts rather than the ever-present, ever-growing information that seems to divide us.

We need to bypass the rational mind.

I was taught these different levels of intervention by my teacher, Gail Larsen, who learned it from Dr. Alberto Villoldo, a teacher of Peruvian shamanism and author of The Four Insights.  He presents a framework for healing, from the physical level to the soul level. Gail took his levels and applied them to speaking. She describes what moves people to change. This excerpt is taken from her book, Transformational Speaking, If You Want to Change the World, Tell a Better Story, pgs. 41-43:

1.  The literal level is that of information. It informs the Activist, who perceives a symptom, a disease in society that needs to change. The message? Wake up and change what you’re doing.
2.  The level of mind is that of insight. It informs the Advocate, who asks: What information can I provide to change your mind so you will grasp the importance and think differently about this issue? Sparking insight stimulates a desire for change.
3.  The level of the soul is that of the imagination or the Artist. Here we experience the power of story, song, poetry, art, and ceremony  - forms that bypass the rational mind and touch us emotionally. Being touched at the soul level moves us to act because we hear a call to align with something greater than ourselves.
4.  The level of spirit is one of illumination and is Beyond Words. As we transcend the limits of our bodies, minds, and emotions, we are transported into the presence of the sacred. Those rare moments fill us with new energy and remind us of what is possible. 

I was given, in my moment, an emotional touch at the soul level by Russe’s paintings, particularly those with the gold circles. (Now that I re-read the levels, maybe she elicited a number 4 level from me?) I was so moved by her question about the sacredness of the lichen that I had to share the experience with you. The message of her art is abundantly clear.

I’m suggesting you immerse yourself not only in the news of the day but also look for your inspiration in art, music, and poetry – the intervention level of soul.

Further, I’m suggesting you own who you are – you artists, poets, musicians, and storytellers, if you haven’t already. If you’re still saying to yourself, “I’m not an artist.” “I can’t call myself a poet.” Then, please stop it. It’s time to step into your calling and accept that if you’re doing the work, then you are. I don’t care if you’re painting in a basement or writing poetry with only your cat as an audience. You are creating on the soul level and that’s what needs to be in the world. Hey, I would even call it your purpose.

Let me know what you’re doing. Send it to me. Let’s meet. I want to help you share it with the world.

This is not the age of information.

This is not the age of information.

Forget the news,

And the radio, and the blurred screen.

This is the time of loaves

And fishes.

People are hungry, and one good word is bread

For a thousand.

David Whyte, Loaves and Fishes

How to bypass the rational mind?

In my days of conflict resolution consulting, I would use a pictorial means of communication with groups. I’d ask them what challenges they were facing and get them to respond with pictures, and line drawings. (I’d have to spend some time reassuring them that I know they’re not artists, “Don’t worry that you can’t draw – use symbols to represent what you want to relay.”) So, they’d draw pictures of people stranded on different islands to represent how they aren’t connecting in their office. Sometimes there was a picture of someone building a bridge to a group that had become disconnected. I think you can imagine what I’m talking about. How would you draw what your workplace looks like? Several islands? A circle with people holding hands? Fires everywhere and stick people rushing to put them out.

What I found was that when asked to draw the answers come from a different place, a deeper place, more genuine. Everyone started on the same playing field. Their drawings looked childish and that was Ok. The person who went to Yale might have funnier-looking stick people than the person with no college education. No matter. The pictures were doing the speaking – no words.

I’d ask each person to explain their drawing and we’d enter a conversation at an entirely different (deeper) level. There were tears, emotions, and roadblocks would evaporate.

It's the same when I start a coaching partnership with someone, I want them to speak with me – and of course, we do, but one of the first things I have them do early on is have them tear pictures and words out of a magazine. They only get 5 minutes. We both look at the resulting collection “for clues”, I tell them. I get an instant image of what questions to ask when I see what they’ve selected – and they see clues that maybe their mind couldn’t have revealed.

This is a time for artists, musicians, and poets, dear Heroine – those who speak to us through channels that go beyond words and get to a deeper part of us as a result.