Creative Block?
Artist’s consultant
What stops you from reaching your artistic potential? Has fear and/or loss of meaning blocked your creative practice?
Optimal Creative flow happens when you can free your mind’s energy from worry about failure and guilt. This freedom will allow you to focus on the present creative moment.
I call my unique approach Integral Creativity Counseling. This process integrates the mind, body and spirit through self-inquiry, skill-building, education and creative/spiritual practice.
Though I work with anyone who needs to nurture his or her creativity, my specialty is as an artist’s consultant. My many years as a professional artist, graduate- and undergraduate-art teacher and psychotherapist have given me exceptional insight into the artist’s creative process.
I can help any type of artist - visual artist, writer, musician, actor, etc. - who wants to take his or her art to a higher level. I offer a challenging perspective grounded in ethics, compassion and a deep respect for the individual creative process.
Within several sessions, clients usually see a positive shift in their creative process.
I have successfully worked with artists on:
– transforming performance anxiety into a creative force
– creative slumps/writer’s block
– sustaining creative effort
– completing projects
– self-trust and courage
– fear of failure
– fear of success
– fear of criticism
– organizing time/work space to facilitate art-making
– developing portfolios and artist’s statements
– reconnecting to the joy of creation
Art instruction and critique are also available.
“After working with Erin, I feel calm. I have the clarity and potential to advance in a productive way. I have had an exciting shift of energy that has made my work in the studio take off. I appreciate that she knows the creative life. I enjoyed the energy work but was able to have remarkable and subtle spiritual conversations which allowed me into a deeper experience of being.”
Jeff, Artist, Brookline, Mass.
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>
Artist’s consultant
What stops you from reaching your artistic potential? Has fear and/or loss of meaning blocked your creative practice?
Optimal Creative flow happens when you can free your mind’s energy from worry about failure and guilt. This freedom will allow you to focus on the present creative moment.
I call my unique approach Integral Creativity Counseling. This process integrates the mind, body and spirit through self-inquiry, skill-building, education and creative/spiritual practice.
Though I work with anyone who needs to nurture his or her creativity, my specialty is as an artist’s consultant. My many years as a professional artist, graduate- and undergraduate-art teacher and psychotherapist have given me exceptional insight into the artist’s creative process.
I can help any type of artist - visual artist, writer, musician, actor, etc. - who wants to take his or her art to a higher level. I offer a challenging perspective grounded in ethics, compassion and a deep respect for the individual creative process.
Within several sessions, clients usually see a positive shift in their creative process.
I have successfully worked with artists on:
– transforming performance anxiety into a creative force
– creative slumps/writer’s block
– sustaining creative effort
– completing projects
– self-trust and courage
– fear of failure
– fear of success
– fear of criticism
– organizing time/work space to facilitate art-making
– developing portfolios and artist’s statements
– reconnecting to the joy of creation
Art instruction and critique are also available.
“After working with Erin, I feel calm. I have the clarity and potential to advance in a productive way. I have had an exciting shift of energy that has made my work in the studio take off. I appreciate that she knows the creative life. I enjoyed the energy work but was able to have remarkable and subtle spiritual conversations which allowed me into a deeper experience of being.”
Jeff, Artist, Brookline, Mass.
What stops you from reaching your artistic potential? Has fear and/or loss of meaning blocked your creative practice?
Optimal Creative flow happens when you can free your mind’s energy from worry about failure and guilt. This freedom will allow you to focus on the present creative moment.
I call my unique approach Integral Creativity Counseling. This process integrates the mind, body and spirit through self-inquiry, skill-building, education and creative/spiritual practice.
Though I work with anyone who needs to nurture his or her creativity, my specialty is as an artist’s consultant. My many years as a professional artist, art professor, psychotherapist, and founder of an artists’ collective have given me exceptional insight into the artist’s creative process.
I can help any type of artist – visual artist, writer, musician, actor, etc. – who wants to take his or her art to a higher level. I offer a challenging perspective grounded in ethics, compassion and a deep respect for the individual creative process.
Within several sessions, clients usually see a positive shift in their creative process.
I have successfully worked with artists on:
– transforming performance anxiety into a creative force
– creative slumps/writer’s block
– sustaining creative effort
– completing projects
– self-trust and courage
– fear of failure
– fear of success
– fear of criticism
– organizing time/work space to facilitate art-making
– developing portfolios and artist’s statements
– reconnecting to the joy of creation
Art instruction and critique are also available.
“After working with Erin, I feel calm. I have the clarity and potential to advance in a productive way. I have had an exciting shift of energy that has made my work in the studio take off. I appreciate that she knows the creative life. I enjoyed the energy work but was able to have remarkable and subtle spiritual conversations which allowed me into a deeper experience of being.”
Jeff, Artist, Brookline, Mass.
Why Creativity Counseling?
In this era of rapid transition, stress and flux, success will go to those that can adapt and innovate. Creative people are imaginative, disciplined, highly perceptive, fluid thinkers who see both the big picture and subtleties of detail. It is these creative individuals who will thrive, breaking out of habitual perceptions and “doing business as usual” to discover new possibilities. Creativity is not just the domain of gifted artists. Rather, it is a learnable skill accessible to everyone. It is a pathway to discovering meaning and living to one’s fullest potential both professionally and personally.
Erin Stack offers a unique approach to enhancing creativity called Integral Creativity Consulting (ICC). A holistic approach, ICC considers the dynamics of mind, body and spirit in the creative process. For example, stress and anxiety are addressed as blocks to flexibility and experimentation. Tailored to the specific needs of the individual or group, Erin teaches how to recognize and develop innate gifts through self-analysis, education, skill building, and contemplative practice.
Erin is uniquely qualified with over 25 years experience as an artist, 20 years as an arts educator (mostly college level and above), 14 years of meditation and spiritual training and 5 years training and practice as a psychotherapist. Erin offers a challenging perspective that is grounded in ethics, compassion, humor, and a deep respect for individuals’ unique creative process.
Erin helps clients recognize and dismantle:
• unconscious assumptions and negative expectations
• fears of criticism and change
• habitual thinking and perceiving
• scattered thought processes
• habitual and ridged thinking
Consulting tends to follow the following pattern:
First, Erin diagnoses inhibitions in the creative process.
Second, she works with the client to determine the constricting cognition and missing skill sets causing the inhibitions.
Third, Erin suggests and teaches psychological, spiritual, body, and creative exercises to develop creativity skills and to transform negative emotions and rigid thought patterns into a more positive and creative life approach.
Finally,creative practices are used to:
• Question mindless assumptions
• Expand perception and broaden perspective
• Increase problem finding and problem solving skills
• Develop innovative thinking styles
• Inspire play and innovation
• Commit to a project
• Sustain creative process
• Nurture a healthy critical/discerning relationship to the work
• See a project all the way through to successful completion
While most people feel a difference from an initial session, Erin does more than offer immediate solutions. Creativity counseling offers strategies and exercises that, if practiced, will incrementally and positively enrich the quality of life.
Erin has successfully helped people with:
• performance anxiety
• mindless assumptions
• sustaining creative effort
• fear of failure
• developing concentration and attention skills
• loss of inspiration and meaning
• organizing time and working space to facilitate creative process
• reconnecting to the joy of creation
Who can benefit from Creativity Consulting?
Creativity Consulting is for anyone who wants richer life experience and increased success in professional and personal life. In these times of uncertainty and rapid transition, creative people will have the competitive edge; they can be flexible while remaining focused.
Erin has had success working with people from diverse backgrounds, including:
• artists, creative-professionals
• people in career transitions
• business people
• salespeople
• therapists
• educators
• retirees
Creativity Consulting is complementary to many health and enrichment practices, including psychotherapy and career counseling.
Erin works with people face-to-face and via telephone and/or e-mail. Erin is available for one-hour sessions on as-needed basis. A unique, customized 12 week creativity program offers 5 one-hour sessions with weekly check-ins for support and feedback via e-mail. On site business consulting and workshops are also available.
“Erin has a calming way about her. She has an intuitive sense of reading people without it feeling invasive. Through our sessions I’ve acknowledged my fear of success has contributed to my creative block. Our time together has been one of looking inward for the answers I seek. Meeting with Erin has definitely been a step in the right direction for the manifestation of my creative endeavors.”
Jennifer H, North Shore, musician
GAL
After many years of teaching at the University of Iowa and working and exhibiting as an abstract painter, Erin left the art world. She pursued her psychology degree and worked in addictions counseling, spiritual healing, and creativity training. Moved by her spiritual practice in both Zen and Christian communities, Erin returned to art making and became involved in environmental activism and building meaningful community. In 2006, Erin integrated her passions and aspirations in the founding of the Green Artists League.
The Green Artists’ League (GAL) is an interdisciplinary collective of artists who have come together to create public art that addresses the global environmental crisis. GAL strives to be a model of community, collaboration, and service. Viewing art as an agent for transformation, GAL engages the public through interactive art experiences. We hope to raise awareness and challenge people to look at their role as part of Nature and their relationship to the environment. Through this increased awarenss, GAL hopes to inspire people to adopt environmentally healthy behaviors and attitudes.
Metamorphosis: Hungry Ghost
Inspired by Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Buddhist Cosmology, “Metamorphosis: Hungry Ghost” is a cautionary tale of excessive consumption.
Created for Earth Day, 2008, Erin Stack escorted Stephenie Strogeny, who had been transformed into a ravenous ghoul, through the streets of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Stack would tell people about the sad tale of Stephenie, a savvy, yet profligate shopper who awoke one morning transformed into a giant Hungry Ghost. She is now doomed to roam the world consuming without ever being satisfied.
The public was encouraged to feed the hungry ghost by putting their waste water bottles, napkins, candies etc. through the many open mouths of the ghost. The food would then be seen through the exposed stomachs that hang from the ghost.
Legend has it that poor Stephenie is still seen wandering the streets of the Northeast trailing her ever accumulating train of waste.
GAL at the New Eden Collaborative at First Parish Church, Newbury
New Eden Organic Community Gardens August, 2010
2008-Present
In the spring of 2008, I became the organizer and director of First Parish Church of Newbury’s environmental mission the New Eden Collaborative. The New Eden Collaborative brings together
New Eden mural inprogress
church congregants, Greater Newburyport CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shareholders, organic community gardeners, organic chicken cooperative members, environmental groups such as Transition Newburyport, and the Green Artists League (GAL) for the purpose of cultivating a sustainable, and earth friendly community.
The participatory art projects at New Eden is the first of GAL’s 3 ”Articulture” community art projects.
Savage Rituals
Erin Stack and architect Stephenie Strogney collaborate annually on roaming eco- interventions.
“Savage Rituals”, Earth Day, 2007, Newburyport, MA
This performance addresses Americans anxious, projected as romanticized, relationship to Nature. Our “friendly” polar bear greeted people on the street and in commercial establishments. The bear offered the gift of cards describing assorted “savage rituals”. If performed, these rituals would allow a more intimate relationship with Nature.
Selected Savage Rituals:
2. For the duration of one month from this day, place a cup outdoors every time there is precipitation. Allow the cup to fill for as long as the rain or snow lasts. When the weather changes, drink the contents of the glass.
5. In your mind, determine a length of time: a specific number of hours, days, weeks, years. Next, pick up a rock. Any size that you can carry is fine. Keep this rock with you at all times: in bed, in the shower, at work…always have the rock in arms length of you. At the end of the specified time, return the rock to the exact location where you found it.
2-D Work
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
In 1996 I left the art world to become more fully a human being. My teaching and painting had reached an impasse where I no longer felt I was true to my call. In the subsequent 9 years I raised children, became a therapist, and dived into my Zen and Christian spiritual practice.
In 2005 I began painting again. My new paintings are intimate contemplations on the nature of mind. Starting with an elusive flash of an image, the desire to communicate an idea follows - streams of thought dry up, old structures are imperfectly resurrected, thus continually creating new relationships. Mirroring the mind through intentional (linear) and chance (random/associative) actions, I trace the process of thought. These “thoughts” are constructed from diverse painting languages that function inter-dependently, like organisms in an ecosystem. One thought is obliterated by another only to be partially retrieved through reductive process. Another thought arises in response to this revelation and so on. These mental habitats maintain a tenuous equilibrium. Reveries conflate, break apart, and reconstitute in a continual realignment of order and projected meaning.
As I have become increasingly aware of the increasing degradation of our environment, I have found it increasingly difficult to use toxic solvents in my oil painting. In 2007 I began experimenting with making my own egg tempera paint from local, free range chickens. A childhood fascination with alchemy has come full circle, as each pigment’s unique nature “transforms” when reacting to the “living” binder of the fresh egg emulsion. After decades of making paintings, the process has become new again, intimate, and mysterious.