Dates: Tuesdays, June 4 - June 25, 2024
Time: from 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Admission: $115 Patreon Members / $125 General Admission

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.

Altered States of Consciousness have been a part of human experience since its earliest beginnings. In Prehistoric times, Shamanism was the dominant form of spirituality throughout the world. The Shaman was—and is—a powerful figure in traditional societies, for they are the one with the ability to enter a trance in which they can travel to the spirit world and communicate with tribal ancestors and the spirits immanent in nature.

We’ll begin our class with an exploration of Shamanistic experiences, and how they are intimately connected to the visual arts of both Prehistoric and living indigenous cultures. From Paleolithic cave paintings, to Neolithic tombs like Newgrange, to the rock paintings of the San Bushmen in South Africa, to the “sand-painting” rituals of the Navajo, what can the visual record tell us about these direct interactions with the spirit realm?

As paganism gradually edged out Shamanism, interaction with dead ancestors continued into the Ancient period, but there was also a proliferation of Mystery Cults across the Greco-Roman world. The artistic legacy of the Eleusinian Mysteries, Mithraism, and myriad other cults based on spectacular and confusing ecstatic experiences will provide us with a window through which to view these powerful out-of-body events.

Aspects of both Shamanistic and Pagan spiritual ecstasies seem to have continued into the Christian era, in the form of so-called Witchcraft and its associated spells, charms, and herbal wisdom, and possibly in Medieval Christian Mysticism, a tradition in which gifted individuals could communicate and interact directly with God, saints, and angels. We’ll examine the iconography of witches in Western art as well as that of saintly mystical experiences. Then we’ll trace the development of a new kind of Spiritualism in the Victorian era, with its seances, spirit art and spirit photography.

Finally, we’ll look at Sigmund Freud’s work in the 20th century with the unconscious human mind as a wellspring of inspiration and deep wisdom. Art movements like Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism were an attempt to work from the unconscious mind of the artist. These images raise intriguing questions about the nature of “automatic” art; much like dreams and other liminal experiences, the works of artists like Salvador Dali and Jackson Pollock can be viewed solely as the product of the mysterious inner workings of the human mind, or are they may be understood as portals into another, spiritual dimension.

Brenda Edgar is an Art Historian in Louisville, KY.  Her research interests include relics and reliquaries, medieval medical manuscripts and depictions of disease in medieval art, as well as the historical role of altered states of consciousness in the creation of art. 

In addition to her work for Morbid Anatomy, she teaches Art History courses at Indiana University Southeast. Her free monthly public talk series, “Art History Illustrated,” is presented at the Cultural Arts Center in New Albany, Indiana.

Brenda is also a poet whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals. Her first full-length book of poems, Dead Flowers, was published in late 2023 through the Main Street Rag publishing company.

When she isn’t reading or writing, Brenda is a New York Times Crossword Puzzle addict as well as a yoga instructor.

Images:

1. Art from Cueva de las Mano, Argentina

2. “Mural”, Jackson Pollock