FLOW STATE /
Painting, Ceramics & Textiles
February 27, 2022 Ongoing
Opening Reception Tuesday March 1
Mill Valley First Tuesday Artwalk 5:30-7:30pm
Flow experiences can occur in different ways for different people and often when you are doing something that you enjoy and in which you are quite skilled. You get completely absorbed, energized and involved, leading to greater states of arousal. Letting go and turning yourself over to your work can create optimal space for the freeing of the mind to get into flow. At this stage, researcher Steven Kotler has identified, a delicious dose of five neurochemicals are released by the brain: norepinephrine, dopamine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin.
According to psychologist Csikskentmihayli (1991), the flow state is linked to the release of tension in both the body and the mind; you feel relaxed but alert at the same time while linear time melts away. Betty Edwards (2008) writes that flow can be linear and left brain where more sequential, analytical and objective states preside. Or more intuitive and right brain where we see ‘the imaginary’ and in metaphor.
Although it may seem as elusive as enlightenment, flow state is possible. Let’s go!
New Acquisitions in Flow
Painter Laura Roebuck / “Unintentional Moonlight.” Laura’s painting is a passageway to our inner thoughts, awakening our imagination and as a conduit of self-expression.
Painter Jeffrey Palladini / “Sequence #4.” Both left- and right-brained, this painting illustrates compelling linear and pattern elements and Jeffrey’s unique vocabulary of dramatic figurative imagery. A meditation on our personal stimuli—memories, inspiration, longing, lust—even our dreams, which are involuntary and untethered.
Ceramicist Austyn Taylor / “Chess, Not Checkers.” + "Jasper Johns." Somewhere between “hype” and “hope” the work provokes a curious humor that comes with resonation to the absurd and alienating experience of existing.
Textile Designer Adrienne Rogers / “Striped Thow & Pillow.” Fiber speaks to Adrienne on a visceral level. Visually seductive and beautiful, these pieces offer an invitation to look beyond functionality and hand knitting, altering the expectations of what it is or should be.
