One reading of a bookie from Cheryl Penn

[Rebecca Guyver]

Some time ago I sent Cheryl some automatic writing that was my version of automatic writing - what I mean is It didn't really conform to what I think automatic writing should be, but it was intuitive and it was honest.  What I received a few days ago declared on the back of the envelope: This was supposed to be automatic writing But...' Everything about Cheryl's work feels thoughtful, down to the diagonals on the stamps!

I don't know what Cheryl's process was but I imagine she is working intuitively here. I wonder if she is working back into images she already has? I imagine there is a bit of everything here.I feel the intentionality of the bird's feet...and at first try to make sense of the text.

New to asemics, responding to text as a pictorial element takes some adjustment, for me but I begin to see pairs of pages and their dialogue.

I love the way Cheryl juxtaposes text that is printed backwards with text that can be deciphered. Her transfers are beautiful - nothing clunky or saccharin about them.

I recognise motifs and feel I am looking in at Cheryl's world, what interests her, and feel grateful.

I sense the artist's frenetic energy and the quiet, thoughtful spaces.  This rhythm of making is familiar.

And I applaud the last line, but doubt it on some level at the same time! Thank you Cheryl, enchanting!

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Once upon a time...De Velo Sloan sent someone a piece of original Mail Art. Sadly, it wasn't to me, but....

COME ON DVS -- SEND ME SOME MAIL ART, and then...

this story can end happily ever after.

Val

[De Villo Sloan]

This looks like a fantastic event to attend, Rebecca. If I ever do get to it, I would probably quote from Breton, and I think it is even a section of the Surrealist Manifesto. Claire Dinsmore, if she's around, knows the exact reference.

[Rebecca Guyver]

Ha, even if DVS won't give me the insights he is surely keeping close to his chest, I am going to this to find out for myself what all this buzz about automatic writing/drawing is.! http://www.artexchange.org.uk/event/involuntary-drawing-art-and-aut...

[cheryl penn]

And I'm digging up the "how to" section of the classifieds which says I'm teasing :-)))!

[De Villo Sloan]

Please - post and write about automatic writing! I didn't mean that. I am going to dig up the "how to" section of Principles of Psychology though so people can have easy access to it. 

[cheryl penn]

Ok - promise - no scooping :-) X!!

[Rebecca Guyver]

Don't worry, you are helpful and I am intrinsically not a rule follower by choice and by inability to follow rules. I love playing with definitions and rules but I have been in England long enough to have learned the art of self-deprecation.

[De Villo Sloan]

I'm not sure I'm being helpful, Rebecca. In the end - the last thing to worry about is rules and definitions. I think it will take a while before anyone figures out what is going on with this in a rational way. In these waters, just go with your intuitions and create. 

[Rebecca Guyver]

Thank you DVS! I do want to learn and I guess that's why I bumble along here stating the obvious, waiting for others with much more experience to point me to the next place of discovery! I've just sent you a little something that underscores that and hopefully will get a laugh too. There's a book that I am reading again alongside everything else I'm reading called Expressive Drawing by Steven Aimone and he talks about automatic drawing.  I await your blog and will try the experiment but am so terrible at directions I'm sure I will bastardize the process anyway.

[De Villo Sloan]

& you can find a lot of examples of automatic writing & drawing in texts by the Surrealists. William James contended it provided direct access to the unconscious. In most cases, it's impossible to distinguish between automatic writing & asemic writing  - I'm not surprised people are getting into automatic writing who are interested in asemics.