On the Ethereal Arts

neptuned : a mode , a mood , a space in time (2020)

on the ethereal arts:

tuning to spirit and floating thru form

creativity that lives in the ether, in the immaterial dimension. this is music, performance, dance.. sound & movement: physical storytelling. ~body telling~ lil whispers of expression that seep into others and blow off into the wind.

ethereal: (adj.) living in the airwaves, a home separate from matter

art: (verb/noun) creative expression or the product of creative expression

these ethereal expressions can be turned into physical media. the physical media just becomes a temporary vessel for the momentary transference (translation). tapes and records warp and break, memories fade and warble, visions of experience combine with those of the human vessels and become something new altogether. the immaterial imprint swirls with the receiver to be something different to each witness. even the makers of the thing have shifting experiences of the expression over time. ethereal art is an idea/energy/feeling that lives in the ether and is only brought into matter thru millions of varied tendrils marking its wisps.

it’s different than static visual media, such as painting and writing, of which the primary mode of transference is the physical object made: material art.

playing with matter is one of my faves. i like to see the thing, feel it, let my eyes and hands be the entry point to the experience. material art has been my home base and preferred bridge for awhile.

during my recent period of transience, most of my things including my visual artmaking supplies were stowed in storage. not only were my tools less available, the rushed experience of downsizing in order to move had me feeling i needed a break from making physical media. i lived in my last place for five years; much was begun, collected, stashed that just couldn’t come along. many parbaked projects were shed; i felt heavy from the physical representations of my creative explorations. still, as i’ve shared before, limitation is the birthplace of creativity. expression will ooze till it finds an exit. movement is always a very accessible and available form of expression to me. it happens all day often without me realizing or consciously collaborating with it. music too became an active playground for my expression. most of my time between housing was spent staying with three musician beloveds — a home brimming with instruments and sounds — and so dancing with sound channeling became another flourishing form of creative flirtation for me. it is during this time when i became transfixed with the idea of what i call the ethereal arts.

there’s something so spiritual about the ethereal arts, they are slippery and shifty. it takes a different mode of connection and way of opening as a vessel. there is a riding of the creative wave channel each time the piece is shared. the material arts have a front-loaded wave-riding — a more private experience of creating that is shared later, post completion.
the material arts are spiritual as well, but in a different direction. there is some sort of lassoing of the idea, energy, or feeling into a specific and static representation. there is still collaborative variance with those who witness, but the material object doesn’t change except to degrade slowly over time as with all earth matter.

what i can say from switching vibes is, to me, the ethereal arts take a different mode of engagement: ongoing improvisation. nothing can have consistent constants on the earth realm. so by nature of the art being something that is expressed thru different times, spaces, and moods, the vision of what the piece is only comes into sight thru repeat exposure: repetitive collaboration/witnessing. otherwise we are only ever with a fraction of what is. a momentary touch in the dust of time.

to evoke ethereal art is to collaborate with the ether that gives rise to form. connecting to matter thru spirit.. tender wisps of pattern and movement not yet embodied (gusts of rhythm in the wind). a way of tuning the vessel of my body to the underlying beat of life.

lightwaves thru a water tank spotted at the music show <3 (2022)