The Italian High Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer Michelangelo faced a less complicated shopping problem in the 15th and 16th century: he had to send assistants off to market to bring back his groceries. Since many of Michelangelo's assistants were illiterate, this is the creative adaptation he came up with to get what he needed.

This is not the same type of grocery list that each of us scribble out on a regular basis, or make notes out of using electronic devices. With only few of Michelangelo's documents surviving today, it is so interesting to see that even his grocery lists contain the same artistic flair and precision that exists in his renowned sculptures and paintings.

These are a few of the items illustrated in this shopping list — a herring, tortelli, two fennel soups, four anchovies and ‘a small quarter of a rough wine.'

An archetype is a constantly occurring symbol or decorative pattern in literature, paintings, art, mythology with a meaning. In Jungian psychology, archetypes represent  inherited unconscious ideas, patterns of thought, or images.

In my History and Theories of Art Therapy discussion, we were asked to create an archetype that emulates either our life or symbols we find ourselves attracted to. This is a photo of my quick acrylic painting of the archetype I created in class:

Resurrection of the Phoenix

by: Danielle Harth

My desire is to be a creator like Christ. My belief of creation is introducing shape, order, and hierarchy out of a chaotic situation. Christ is my creator who was resurrected. The phoenix is a mythical bird that cyclically regenerates itself, so I related the phoenix resurrection to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I see fiery wings as the all encompassing love, warmth, and protection of Christ. Blue is a deep color that historically represents infinity and wisdom. However, when blue is juxtaposed with red and yellow it represents the rivalry between Heaven and Earth. There is somewhat of a separation between the red and blue in this archetype, yet they still interact which I feel represents being “in the world, but not of the world”.  Or, I could say that red and blue in the same picture could represent Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, the totality of knowledge, being, space, and time.

So many psychologists like Walter Cannon Bradford, Robert Plutchik, and John Watson suggested that fear is one of the innate emotions that humans are born with.

Fear is a spirit clenching, manipulating, controlling spirit that wants to distract you from your purpose and promise for your life. It is the most destructive, disabling, intangible thing that can ever grab hold of someone. It is an emotion that results from a perceived threat. The key word is “perceived” because something perceived is only a speculation or a sense, it is not proven real.

There have been times that I have been afraid to actually open my mouth and speak. I couldn’t understand why I physically could not get words to escape my lips. I’ll never forget one day that I went into a restaurant during my lunch break and before I could walk to the counter to order food, I turned around and walked out because I dreaded looking the person in the eye and having to speak out loud. I remember that was the worst I’ve ever felt. I felt completely worthless, stupid, and powerless because I didn’t have the confidence in myself to speak up, even in small situations, like something so simple as ordering a burger.

Fear is designed to separate you from your confidence, the power that is within you, knowing the authority that you have when you open your mouth and speak, and prevent you from moving forward.

The way to overcome fear is to realize the power of your words. When you speak everything in your brain arrests itself and focuses on what your mouth is saying. Stop that fear in its tracks and speak authority, speak confidence, speak boldness, speak greatness, speak your dreams and desires.

You have vocal authority, your words carry spiritual power to communicate life and make things move, even mountains.

These are a few scriptures from the Bible to show you the essence of the power of God’s words.

 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12

  “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
Proverbs 18:21

 “ But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Matthew 12:36-37

 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
Genesis 1:3

 “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain. Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.”
Mark 11:23-24

 My hope is that you realize that when you renew your mind, you will realize the power of words and more importantly the Word of God. For words to be sharper than any two-edged sword, that means that your mouth is a powerful tool. Don’t allow fear to snatch your power from you. Use your words wisely and creatively to build the life you want for yourself.

It is beautiful to take the time to observe the natural things that God has blessed this Earth with because there are so many inanimate things that people can relate to, it also makes life a lot more enjoyable. This is why art is so important. Art takes nature, universal themes, human expression, and world history to make it relatable and valuable to our own unique existence.

The Pomegranate is a unique fruit that has a multitude of small delicious seeds protected within barriers of a hard outer shell. Today, I had the opportunity to cut into a pomegranate and absorb the beauty and flavor of it and contemplate how I believe it can be applied to people’s lives.

Like Psalm 1:3 says in the Bible, we are “like a tree planted firmly by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and whose leaves do not wither; and in whatever we do will prosper.” By each of us being trees that bear fruit, we contain countless seeds (creative ideas and gifts) within us that serve as opportunities to generate prosperity and value to our lives, our homes, our relationships, our communities, and our world.

In Art and Mythology, the pomegranate has been represented as a symbol of fullness, prosperity, overflowing generosity, and fertility because of the countless seeds within it.

Here are a few representations of the pomegranate in Italian Renaissance art:

The pomegranate also serves as a great metaphor of explaining how a personality can be so fruitful in carrying many seeds. Defining personality from a psychological perspective, personality is the set of enduring behavioral and mental traits that distinguish human beings. Each of us people are born into a solid shell, like a pomegranate, but within our human spirit we are composed of so many different elements, complexities, values, cultures, talents, gifts, humors, goals, professions, and experiences that make us unique people.

“Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening”
Salvador Dali
1944
Oil on canvas
20 x 15.9 inches

“I am painting pictures which make me die for joy, I am creating with an absolute naturalness, without the slightest aesthetic concern, I am making things that inspire me with a profound emotion and I am trying to paint them honestly.”

-Salvador Dali

If someone were to walk up to you and ask you “Who are you?” what would you say?

Who art thou?

In the Bible, use of the word “art” in phrases like ‘Who art thou?’ and ‘Where art thou?’ gave the same value as asking someone who are you or where are you. “Art” took the place of the most common simple verb meaning “to be.” We are human beings. There is so much depth in the importance of just being able to communicate being— so much that whenever you learn a new language, the first verb translated is usually “to be.”

In so many ways “art” really is just being. It’s expression, it’s memories, it gives power to manipulate or imitate, it conveys emotion, it is diverse, and  it records history. Creating art has been a gift to me. My art is a record of my history and a reflection of conversations I’ve had with myself and with the world. My art has gifted me with power to imitate and manipulate my own world with my hands, when I could not control circumstances in reality. My art reflects how I felt at certain times without being able to verbalize it, and project who I dreamt of being even when I did not feel that way. My art has allowed subsistence for me to encounter peace and feel that life has deeper meaning.

I feel everyone should have the opportunity to make art. Creating art is a fun way of taking what is inside of you and making a reflection of it. Make art and take a deep look at it– it will reveal far more about you than a mirror could.