"Art intuitively apprehends coming changes in the collective unconsciousness"
Carl Jung
Walled Woman
Tracy debuted Walled Woman at the Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies' Conference of Research in Jung and Analytical Psychology in Washington D.C. on June 23, 2017. Her presentation is entitled, "The Walled Woman Demands a Sacrifice: Archetypal Art and the Emergence of Divine Feminine Consciousness." Her visionary artwork is inspired by a dream, immurement of women, anchoresses, and challenges of modern society. Tracy is developing this project into a multi-media exhibition and book.
The Vestal Virgins in ancient Rome were priestesses who maintained the sacred fire dedicated to Vesta, goddess of the hearth, home and family. If their vow of chastity was broken, the priestesses were immured alive.
In folklore: "There were these masons, nine or twelve, they say. And they took upon themselves to erect a building--strong and beautiful, like none there was before. And they worked day and night. And night and day they worked, but whatever they constructed during the day collapsed at night, and whatever they built during the night fell to the ground by morning. And it was so for three weeks--even three years. The head mason then learned that they needed to make a sacrifice: to offer the first woman to come on the morrow, for an atonement to whomever or whatever caused the walls to keep coming down. And the next morning the master's wife came, loving, with a good meal for her husband. And they seized her, and they built her into the walls. And the walls stood from then on. Some still stand to this day."
By the Middle Ages, devout anchoresses were enclosed within tiny cells for the rest of their lives to devote themselves to religion. They would offer counsel, wisdom, and prayers to people seeking healing. Typically, the cells were attached to a church.
The Vestal Virgins in ancient Rome were priestesses who maintained the sacred fire dedicated to Vesta, goddess of the hearth, home and family. If their vow of chastity was broken, the priestesses were immured alive.
In folklore: "There were these masons, nine or twelve, they say. And they took upon themselves to erect a building--strong and beautiful, like none there was before. And they worked day and night. And night and day they worked, but whatever they constructed during the day collapsed at night, and whatever they built during the night fell to the ground by morning. And it was so for three weeks--even three years. The head mason then learned that they needed to make a sacrifice: to offer the first woman to come on the morrow, for an atonement to whomever or whatever caused the walls to keep coming down. And the next morning the master's wife came, loving, with a good meal for her husband. And they seized her, and they built her into the walls. And the walls stood from then on. Some still stand to this day."
By the Middle Ages, devout anchoresses were enclosed within tiny cells for the rest of their lives to devote themselves to religion. They would offer counsel, wisdom, and prayers to people seeking healing. Typically, the cells were attached to a church.
Who Am I?
|
|
All At Sea
|
Tracy's artwork, All at Sea, was selected for a juried exhibition called Dreamscapes. O'Hanlon Center for the Arts in Mill Valley, California, hosted the art show. "A dream inspired All at Sea, where I, alone in a vast ocean, was confronted by an enormous wave to traverse. I did so successfully only to face another closing in from the opposite direction.
All at Sea examines the power of story and literature to buoy a young girl whose life is threatened by the terror of her brother's paranoid schizophrenia and her mother's abandonment. The monster is constructed out of psychotropic drug information inserts, a chapter from a book on psychopaths written about my brother, antique dictionaries, disposable paper pill cups, tobacco, wire and clay. The sea is constructed mainly from two of my favorite books from childhood, Dr. Suess's "What was I Scared of?" and "The Abominable Swamp Man" by Gail E. Haley, interspersed with sections clipped from some of my favorite books. I am drawn to explore loneliness and the longing for connection through manipulating no longer useful items that are in danger of being lost to history (maps, thesauruses, dictionaries, children's books). It is my hope that the scenes created offer a different context in which to feel our human condition, its tragedy, its comedy, its whimsy, its divinity. I seek to touch the irrational, emotional world normally hidden from view." |
Bee Free
|
Bee Free was chosen by jurors at O'Hanlon Center for the Arts to be shown for the exhibition, Sign of Our Times, in Mill Valley, California. "The health of our planet is inextricably linked to the public's health and the health of our body politic.
Bee Free emerged out of my exploration of modern culture’s overmedication and the effects of these pharmaceuticals on the environment. Immersing myself in documentaries and articles, I began to see the links between corporate farming’s monocultures, degradation of the soil, use of toxic pesticides and antibiotics, bee colony collapse, rise of chronic illness and the inhumane treatment of animals. Bee Free recreates an iconic image of revolution, a fist breaking chains, drawn from the Black Power movement of the 1960s—to spark discussion of the myriad ways that corporatism creates bonds of servitude that destroy the planet and increasingly undermines each person’s capacity to rebel. This artwork manipulates hundreds of tactile items—red, white and blue painted GMO soybeans and corn kernels, dead bees, pharmaceutical pills and bottle labels, paper pill cups--as symbols to question our ability to truly see the big picture and take a stand. While the proud fist appears to have broken the pharmaceutical bonds, it is composed of dead bees and GMO soybeans, symbols of our broken ecosystem and political system." |
Mystic Sisters
Tracy Ferron and her Mystic Sisters presented gifts, offerings, and performances, including collective improv soundscape rituals and twilight thresholds at Burning Man. The performance art of self-transformation inspired their audience on a journey between what was and what will be. They invited attendees to experience intentional change within themselves.
Burning Man is an annual festival held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert where Black Rock City is created -- a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self expression, and self-reliance. In this crucible of creativity, all are welcome. Burning Man is "A city in the desert. A culture of possibility. A network of dreamers and doers."
The Mystic Sisters were accompanied by a buggy and many unicorns. The buggy featured magic wands, a spinning wheel, and Edwardian women to facilitate transformation. They offered archetypal masks as gifts to all burners who happened upon them. "Find us, find yourself."
Burning Man is an annual festival held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert where Black Rock City is created -- a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self expression, and self-reliance. In this crucible of creativity, all are welcome. Burning Man is "A city in the desert. A culture of possibility. A network of dreamers and doers."
The Mystic Sisters were accompanied by a buggy and many unicorns. The buggy featured magic wands, a spinning wheel, and Edwardian women to facilitate transformation. They offered archetypal masks as gifts to all burners who happened upon them. "Find us, find yourself."
Other Artistic Creations
Tracy delights in creating art that inspires love, connection, and joy. Her artwork elevates consciousness, raises awareness for humanity, and bridges multi-cultural generations.
Stay Tuned for Tracy's new book, Pagan Baby!
Tracy is writing a memoir, Pagan Baby, which "explores my family’s struggle with mental illness during the Vietnam War era in small-town America. When I was born in 1969, my eldest brother was 20 years old and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Three years later, my other brother had his first psychotic break at age 19. My childhood was framed by their madness.
My hometown, Coronado, California, is a very conservative, affluent beach town on an island in the middle of San Diego Bay. Two-thirds of the island is a U.S. Naval Base. My father was the high school principal, a lone Democrat in a community determined to shut out the changes fomenting in the late 1960s.
One brother became a hippie and the other brother, a gun-shooting, arch-conservative. Both fell to mental illness. As my brothers made local headlines, my father lost his job and my mother broke her mold of Catholic housewife to return to college in her 40s. She became a psychologist, fiercely seeking answers, particularly in New Age spirituality.
In the face of my brothers’ tragedies, each member of my family struggled against the expectations of our small town and each was forced to radically redefine themselves. This is a unique prism through which to examine the tumultuous social upheavals in 1960s and 1970s America. It is a story of the loneliness and isolation of mental illness and our search for answers and peace."
My hometown, Coronado, California, is a very conservative, affluent beach town on an island in the middle of San Diego Bay. Two-thirds of the island is a U.S. Naval Base. My father was the high school principal, a lone Democrat in a community determined to shut out the changes fomenting in the late 1960s.
One brother became a hippie and the other brother, a gun-shooting, arch-conservative. Both fell to mental illness. As my brothers made local headlines, my father lost his job and my mother broke her mold of Catholic housewife to return to college in her 40s. She became a psychologist, fiercely seeking answers, particularly in New Age spirituality.
In the face of my brothers’ tragedies, each member of my family struggled against the expectations of our small town and each was forced to radically redefine themselves. This is a unique prism through which to examine the tumultuous social upheavals in 1960s and 1970s America. It is a story of the loneliness and isolation of mental illness and our search for answers and peace."