Alchemy Creative Studio

It's been nearly a year since my last post. Overall, I've been quietly creating and organizing in the background. I needed time to figure out what I had to say and how I wanted to say it. This process has been a journey. One where I’ve spent a lot of time creating, reworking old pieces, and organizing all of the work I’ve made in the last few years.

In July 2019, I sat on the Member’s patio at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was a too-hot Summer day, but it was a welcome respite from binging on my favorite Impressionist and Expressionist painters. I sat beneath an umbrella and doodled in my notebook.

I surprised myself when I drew the glyph for Pallas Athene. I wrote Alchemy Arts on the page. For years, I’d been curious about alchemy. Harry Potter fed this curiosity, but it felt overwhelming even to consider exploring the vast realms of alchemy.

At the time, I was trying to build a website and brand for my paintings and makeup services. I was plagued by analysis paralysis and swallowed up by the tiny decisions I couldn’t seem to make.

Should I have my paintings and makeup services under the same website? To me, painting faces and canvases was the same thing, but not to someone looking to book makeup services or purchase a painting. I was paralyzed by indecision.

When I went to purchase a domain, every derivative of Alchemy Arts or Artistry had been taken. So I returned to the drawing board, eventually choosing my name, Margaret Fronimos Artistry.

Something about that decision never quite sat well with me. Then Covid hit, and I decided to dissolve my makeup kit. It was too expensive to maintain, even though makeup had always carried me through difficult times—a skill I could always depend on. I knew I didn’t want to work in a salon, and starting a business as a freelance makeup artist is challenging, even with connections. My heart wasn't entirely in it, even if I were up to the task.

My soul longed to explore another creative edge.

Creating art has been the through line of my life. It is a highly personal process. I create first for myself, but felt uncomfortable with my company being in my name because my purpose felt greater than me. I was simply the creator, and the idea was to release my creations into the world, allowing them to take on a life of their own. This last bit has been tricky for me the past few years.

I’ve been holding my creations close because it doesn’t feel time to let them go. Recently, I realized many steps along the way needed tending before I would be ready to give my paintings the introductions they deserve.

I spent most of last year “re-branding.” I put re-branding in quotes because it didn’t need to take a year, and much of that time was spent contemplating many mini-decisions.

I returned to the name Alchemy after reading James Hillman’s Alchemical Psychology and Marie-Louise von Franz’s Alchemy.

For months, I sat in deep contemplation with my Brand sphere, the 64th Gene Key, the Siddhi of Illumination. I stayed with the idea of Illumination through many iterations before creating this image:

It speaks so simply of how I view the 64th Siddhi and alchemy. Out of the darkness is born the light. The gold is extracted from the lead. This is a metaphor for how I see creativity in my art-making process and symbolically of how we make meaning of our lives, which may be our most significant work.

The word poesis derives from an Ancient Greek term “to make.” So, mythopoesis is the making of myths. Humans are meaning-making creatures. We do this naturally; our lives become our myths. We connect ideas and experiences unique to each individual.

I plan to explore this thread more as I create and ideate. Please subscribe to join me on my journey of mythopoesis.

You can see more of my art on my website, or for a fuller catalog of my work, check out my Artwork Archive. I'm looking forward to sharing and connecting with you.

With love,

Margaret

Updated and edited, originally posted on Substack on 9/22/2023.

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