Sessile
 

I guess the purpose for this thread is two-pronged. A long post, so for those who bear with me, thank you :)

In the real world Sessile are actual biological organisms - if you google it you'll learn clams cemented to rocks and feeding from tidal flows are sessiles. I have taken the term for my own purposes.

Firstly, I have a thought or concept, and I want to not just explore it internally but share it with others. Tell me if the thought is too odd, or arcane. I'm unable to readily communicate what I find intriguing about it in a way that interests others. In this case, actually, I have virtually stopped working on it because the work seems to land with a distant thud.

So, do you folks have these sorts of thoughts? Can you successfully share them and get others to interact with them? What sort of recommendations are there for a guy like me who wants to take a further look at his concept (In this case Sessile) and do it in a way that doesn't need a book to explain what he's doing?

Secondly, is the concept itself worth pursuing as a visual product? Is there visual imagery out there that does what I want to do, and does it better? There is a real possibility that the things I like about my Sessile are handled much more effectively by other people under another Brand Name. Or it is an old, hackneyed concept that I am oblivious to? I've recently had someone refer to this stuff as Green Man work for instance - an exciting and interesting branch of imagery and myth and legend that I may be related to but is perhaps only part of my Sessile. Is there some byway or alley I am blindly walking down that an outside viewpoint can point out for me? I would like to take more time with Sessile but as I said, for now I'm just letting it sit because I have more fruitful places I can put my time and energy.

Sessile is a concept that came to me a while back. I've gotten the feedback that it is a bit, well, too individual and internal a concept. Sometimes it seems that a project or possibility that may be exciting or involving to me is perhaps inaccessible and uninteresting to other people. A quickie blurb I put on my website (Mark Johnson Fine Art - Wonder and Whimsy) in the Tree Dancer and Sessile gallery reads;

"Sessile are the faces I create for the special places this earth has, it’s places of power and significance where we can connect with the deeper parts of ourselves."

I think of Sessile as more than that. Indeed it is the underlying dream that finds ways to show itself here and there in a way we can see part of. In order to see this dream we put an actual face on it, tie it to a physical place in our world, experience it through our own realized senses in a way we can barely understand.

The Sessile is much more than a stationary head or face. It is also the nexus for energies and influences that we can only vaguely sense. Even then we probably misinterpret the phenomenon that we experience.

The first time I conceived of Sessile I was browsing another forum I am a member of, and someone posted their work station for fun. I was caught by the image on their monitor and kept coming back to it, finally realizing that I had to draw out what I saw even though what I saw had absolutely no relationship to the work that was shown on the monitor.

Here is the monitor shot.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...screenshot.jpg

Here is what I saw, what I knew was my first Sessile set of sketches;

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...leconcept1.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...leconcept2.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...leconcept3.jpg

Since then I have been thinking of Sessile and done drawings at various levels of finish, and size, and with various intents.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...silegrowth.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...ssileplace.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...eptsessile.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...ssileroots.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...Placesmall.jpg

Actually my Tree Dancers are a direct product of Sessile. They are the result of considering what might happen if a person spent time in the transformitive aura that a Sessile Place has when in a meditative and receptive state. That would be another thread.

So, any thoughts, comments, ideas, critiques? Talk to me, people :)

I think I see the tree dancers for their sense of movement, and that I absolutely love about them.

The sessile to me reminds me of the wizened faces in the tree who watch and see everything, but have no human tendencies. They are as ageless as time... like the Ents from the LOTR lore. I think that they could definitely be fully developed in their own right in the Green man way you suggest. But if you think about your title - wonder and whimsy - where is the wonder or whimsy inside the sessile? Compared to your other body of work they seem to stand very much apart. In the scene but on an entirely different plane, and not really connectable.

I don't know if I am making any sense to you.. but your OP does make sense to me.

A sense of purchase & connectedness.

I see your art & it brings to mind our grounded intertwining symbiotics.

Mycelium put on whimsical shows all the time.

I get it Amonkie. The Sessile concept and my execution of it seems to be weak in that area of personal connection that is important for the viewer. My Lady asked me to consider where I was when I was working on Sessile. I was overworked, very unhappy (and unable to acknowledge that I was unhappy), very stressed and desperate for some place to understand/find meaning in my life. I couldn't work on those things and find space to develop them anywhere but in my art. That makes the Sessile body of work a very self-involved and densely compacted set of concepts and pieces. My life has opened up and I have joy, life, connectedness in it. My art now reflects that more, witness Tree Dancers and Reflections II, which are more approachable and people could more readily see hanging on their walls.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...92010Large.jpg http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...nsIIMedium.jpg

Thanks for your insight Amonkie. You are a lovely person, and I am fortunate to have you as a TFP buddy :icare: Let's talk about new ink :thumbsup:

Hey ring, a lovely metaphor. Lichens with their unique fungal/algae mix do such an amazing job of knitting together with rocks and trees, giving another layer of life and texture. And the enormously important fungal/root interface which strengthens the bond of tree and soil, giving a better grip on life. I could see that breathing life into my own personal metaphor of Sessile. You are great :) Thanks :thumbsup:

Have you thought of portraying this as a rejection of or opposition to movement? Portraying your concept as the opposite of whatever it isn't?

Hi inBoil - not sure what you mean by portraying Sessile as the opposite of whatever it isn't. If you could wrap a few more words around that to help share your proposal that would be great. I know I don't think of Sessile as a rejection of or opposition to movement. In some way they are what can underlay movement, actually, or have movement as a 3D way of tracking the influences they impart on reality.

Sessile are really much deeper and more rooted in the underlying building blocks of the universe than I guess I've portrayed them. I only draw the faces as a manifestation or projection of what they really are, the place that they actually hold. Maybe I should write that book. Another book two people will read :D An example - I've referred to dreams, but I mean there are echoes of the Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime in what Sessile is rooted in.

Should I stick to Whimsies and Whales 'n such? Sessile seems more and more like my own internal creation/unfolding universe story that really belongs wherever my half-awake mind is before the alarm gets me up in the morning ;)

I love the sessile.
Period.

It was the first thing that drew me to your art.
I eventually felt something powerful in the Tree Dancers and the Whimsy, but I immediately felt the power in what I ended up referring to in my own mind as the "Wise Faces". There is emotion in them that I feel... it now makes sense, connecting it to the period in your life you describe. I can see the happiness that your Lady brings you in the drawings you did for your anniversary, as much as the pain and wisdom and almost... resignation...? that I see in your sessile.
Kramus, I love when you do what is in your heart. I can almost see it when it's not fueled as much from the heart, though I love the dinosaurs, too. The power that you bring to your art comes from what is happening within. What I told to another family last week is that feelings are never wrong. When you tap into those, you produce exceptional work. I love it all. :)

I gotta agree with noodle... I would love to see how the Sessile might manifest itself now...

Gawrsh noodle :shy: Not used to someone who seems to have gotten Sessile from the git-go, and nailed what and where it was coming from. Sometimes I have doubts about pieces, or even bodies of work. A little thing like your post lets me know that Sessile are more than "kewl, dude". I have noted that art shows I participate in are commercial failures but a personal validation. You allowed me to continue that feeling with your one post about Sessile.

Amonkie, Sessile will be manifesting itself again - not too sure yet about the hows and whens but . . .

Thanks for posting ladies - it makes a difference and helps bring answers to some things I wondered about in my OP :thumbsup: