Inspiration

Artist Statement

Terri Sterling combines art, psychology, and poetry in an effort to communicate from her heart, universal feelings about relationships. The artist images come from “Dundte”, unconscious memories, or intuition. “ Dundte” is the creative muse, which comes from the earth, than flows through us, until it reaches our very souls, leaving us with a tingling sensation. It is the “unconscious collective” or memories which are past down biologically from one generation to the next waiting for the ideal moment to surface.  The creative muse is our intuition, which cannot be explained through pervious knowledge or remember events. Somehow, we know the answer to a question without consciously thinking about it because it just “pops” into our mind without any effort.

The images are created from unconscious material, which was allowed to flow from the earth into the feet of the artist and on to the canvas. It is a meditative, peaceful experience, and there is no room for resistance. If the artist allows the intellectual or ego to become too powerful the flow stops and the images will become stiff and technical. The images and poetry feed off each other and later are placed together through an intellectual process. The artist engages in a Gestalt approach, which uses both left and right brain thinking, to help clarify the viewers experience, while leaving enough room for the viewer to project their own emotions and thoughts about relationships.

Relationships are like dances taking on different flavors, where two or more people become tangle and involved. In every relationship, there is give and take, conflicts and intimacy, love and anger, and logic and emotions. Some relationships help us to grow in gentle loving ways, while others are powerful and can leave lasting effects for several years. We carry these positive and negative unconscious memories with us in each new relationship and we carry the “unconscious collective”, which Jung often spoke of during his lectures. These symbols and relationships provide us with a mold that contains negative and positive beliefs, which we than project on to other people who cross our paths. The artist wants the viewer to recognize their unconscious motives in the decisions they make when interacting with another person or situation. Insight into these motives and projections will determine the success people have in filling their dreams while reducing the conflicts they have with each other.