Acrylic on canvas, 4’x 5’
2003-2007
This eight-canvas series, PRIMARY COLORS, depicts the eight dimensions of the creative process in human development as presented in Ruthellen Josselson’s The Space Between Us. (Newberry Park, CA/London/New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1996)
holding
attachment
passionate experience
eye-to-eye validation
idealization/identification
mutuality/resonance
embeddedness
tending (care)
Just as the primary colors are the essential hues from which all colors are mixed, the first four dimensions are formative essentials for our primal well-being and neurological development. They are also requisites for the emergence of the last four dimensions—leading to psycho-spiritual maturation and differentiation.
These primary movements—dependent on the creative process of giving birth, nurturing life/creativity, and letting go—inform and transform our physical, psychological and spiritual energy. Their absence perpetuates cycles of disconnection, shame and violence.
On a global level, our world consciousness moves through similar stages. Imagine humanity collectively reaching these last stages
PRIMARY COLORS 1
holding
the containing/grounding environment for emergence of innate potential; the Creator Spirit- “my rain, wind, and sun”-animates the foundational elements of this entire creative process
PRIMARY COLORS 2
attachment
the hub for creative experimentation and differentiation
PRIMARY COLORS 3
passionate experience
the desire for union with others through beauty/symbolism
PRIMARY COLORS 4
eye-to-eye validation
the responsive affirmation which provides existential meaning
PRIMARY COLORS 5
idealization/identification
the yearning for that which is beyond and larger than self
PRIMARY COLORS 6 
mutuality/resonance
collaborative relationship/rapprochement
PRIMARY COLORS 7
embeddedness
the sense of place/communal memory within a community
PRIMARY COLORS 8
tending (care)
the highest form of loving in context of reflection and struggle