From Shared Imagination to Custom Art: The Collaborative Magic of Living Mythologies
You’re holding a piece of art that came from somewhere special. You didn’t buy it from a gallery or from an art show, nor was it a traditional commission…
Ascent to Self-Knowing · Custom Art by Eric Dean (learn more)
This piece (your Living Mythology) came from you, and the artist, in collaboration. Your imagination and self-expression were essential ingredients to its creation.
Stepping into the Living Mythology process, you felt uneasy: you’d never done anything like this before, and you wondered if your imagination would even come online. You met Eric, the artist, for a short walk through the woods, settling at a rocky outcrop where the co-creation session would unfold. Taking deep breaths together, you noticed your nerves started to take a back seat.
A sense of safety washed over you as Eric explained the Living Myth journey that was about to emerge—a journey catalyzed by your intention. Without thought, your intention revealed itself to you: identity. You’d been in a season clouded by questions of who you knew yourself to be. The familiar stories about yourself had started to break down, leaving room for new definitions of your personhood.
Following Eric’s guidance, you let the word “identity” transmute into a mental image. After a moment and a few more breaths, you were greeted with the picture of a flaming heart, its fire rising through your body like a chimney. You chuckled inside: apparently, your imagination still worked.
Time seemed to stand still as, for the next half an hour, you became an alchemist, transforming in-the-moment experiences into an adventure of the mind, body, and soul. You were immersed in a mutual flow state with Eric, where you alternated sharing spontaneous mental imagery, body sensations, movements, and more. In real time, without a script, you and Eric wove a story intimately connected to the present moment and your theme of identity.
With your adulting existence always demanding structure and planning, it was freeing to experience a process so fluid and open-ended. It was enlivening to surrender to not knowing, to allow yourself to go with the mystery of whatever might happen next.
Just when you thought you’d reached your depths, Eric began playing his drum. Each strike of the mallet rumbled through you, stoking the fire in your heart, giving birth to new imagery and insights about your being. His tempo ebbed and flowed with your energy in an interaction that was both unspoken and intuitive. You eventually reached a natural ending that both of you knew to be right.
The story that originated from that session served as the raw material from which Eric crafted the custom composition you now hold. The weight of the frame in your hands is amplified tenfold as you savor the deep meaning of what you possess. Your Living Myth is a celebration of your inner world, your personal journey, and a commemoration of a unique relational experience.
Heart Voyages · Custom Art by Eric Dean (learn more)
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Still you find yourself abuzz with the energy of that soulful exchange. After all, how many people can say they dove into the creative process with an artist? You sensed your inner child was in need of the right nudge, and your Living Myth experience did the trick. Excitement bubbles up in you as you wonder how to inject this creative charge back into your personal and professional identities…
If you can imagine yourself with art like this, you’re invited to explore Living Mythologies. These collaborative art journeys yield more than decorations for your wall: they catalyze expanded states of consciousness that bring you into authenticity, connection, and aliveness.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Dean is a seer, artist, guide, and psychotherapist who works and plays in the mountains of Flagstaff, AZ. Eric feels most alive when facilitating co-creative journeys that he transforms into custom art pieces. Earthy and spiritual, Eric finds joy in ecstatic dance, music circles, mountain biking, snowboarding, bouldering, and other adventures with friends.
