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Nov24
Living a Visual Life
7 CommentsA couple of weeks ago, I began reading an incredible book called The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby. I won’t go into detail about the content of the book; suffice it to say that the author comes to his conclusions by looking at visual forms, and that he explains his findings by combining text with art from a wide array of indigenous cultures, ancient and modern. Both the form and the content of the book are so engaging to my visual sense that my associative mind has been running free and making connections between the author’s observations and a variety of ancient Jewish motifs and ideas.
In the course of reading the book, I’ve learned that I think in visuals far more than I’d realized. Sometimes, the visuals are clear pictures, and sometimes, they consist of outlines, textures, or colors that represent ideas and feelings. Because I’ve never been any good at representational art, I’ve never considered myself a visual thinker, but it’s clear now that I am most comfortable when I’m thinking visually and associatively, rather than verbally and linearly. I’m coming to this realization rather late, I think, because I grew up in two excessively verbal and vocal cultures—American culture and Jewish culture—and I learned to navigate so well in words that I couldn’t see the process behind the words until now.
As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been writing about one post a week. I still love writing, but I’ve found that I need to balance my identity as a writer with living in the world of the visual. So, I’ve been immersing myself in a number of art projects and finding out just how much I love color, shapes (especially helixes), and the process of putting something together that wasn’t there before. In this post, I want to share what I’ve been doing—both over the course of the last year and at the present time.
I love making wind chimes, and in the spring, I made two wind chimes from parts that I “borrowed” from an old plastic xylophone. (The plastic part of the xylophone became a lobelia planter for the garden.) Here are the wind chimes, one made from warm colors…
…and the other made from cool colors:
More recently, I’ve made two pieces of art from the contents of an old, broken digital camera and printer dock, along with some springs and beads I picked up at the thrift store:
I’ve also been delving into sewing and quilting. First, I created a new backpack from the remains of a skirt I made last year. I love the deep blue, teal, and purple of the Guatemalan fabric, and I fashioned the backpack so that the pull straps close the top of the pack when you put it on:
Then, I started working on a quilted wall hanging made of fabric from clothing and other items that were wearing out. While I was in the process of cutting the material, I decided to make a potholder from the scraps. It’s unusual that I make anything unplanned and asymmetrical, but I had a good time patching the potholder together and finding out what would happen. I like the result very much:
I still need to sew the backing onto the wall hanging. When it’s done, I’ll post a photo of it.
© 2009 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg
7 Responses to “Living a Visual Life”
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John Dale Lyons November 24th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Truly amazing! Your stuff should be in a gallery.
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Lovely work, Rachael!
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I like the things you have made and recognize both the innate hunger for texture and color and the autistic gift of seeing something in what others see as only “one thing”….they see a pile of trash as something to ignore and our brains try and see what else it could be. (Don’t know if that made sense) but my brain seems to seek out shapes in wood grain, textured surfaces, ect .
The reason I think this is important is that I believe the current investigation into “causes” of autism and it’s “cure” has over looked what many autistic’s know…..there are some advantages in the ways our brains work that are obvious deficiencies on how many NT brains work .
ooops…I’m late for work…one of the disadvantages of my brain….no concept of time .
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Meant to leave a link that I would like to see all autistics check out….
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=art_exhibit_upload
I plan on sending in some of my own art and hope you will do the same and pass this on as we need to show that there are some advantages to autism .
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suebeedee November 26th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Awesome, beautifully inspiring. You are a gifted artist. Can’t wait to see some of this up close and personal once I get my life in order. Happy Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for your blog.
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I have difficulty speaking because I often conceive of entire concepts in visual form. So sometimes I go to say something, and I simply can’t because there is no language for it.
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despite a lifelong tendency to “work” visually, i’ve, sort of, adapted well to a verbal mode, out of necessity. hte issues i face come from my difficulties achieving any balance between the verbal and my own way of working and being. in short, i get excessively chatty with people, especially when i’m nervous.
i’ve been longing to be less verbal, and more visual, for years. when i was very young, i didn’t talk to anyone, but was drawing all the time. i still draw and paint, but talk far too much. overcompensating?
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About Me
I'm Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg, and I publish this blog, Journeys with Autism. I'm a wife, mother, writer, singer, artist, photographer, community volunteer, and the chapter leader for the Vermont Chapter of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN).
At the age of 50, I awoke to my place on the autism spectrum and discovered a world of gifts, struggles, and life-changing possibilities. My latest book, The Uncharted Path: My Journey with Late-Diagnosed Autism, was published in July of 2010. My work has also appeared in Shift Journal of Alternatives: Neurodiversity and Social Change and in the Disability Rights and Neurodiversity section of the ASAN website.
My Memoir
"The Uncharted Path is an autism autobiography unlike any I’ve ever read.....I’d recommend The Uncharted Path to anyone on the spectrum, to anyone who has friends or relatives on the spectrum, and to anyone who cares for people on the spectrum. Her book is written straight from the heart.” —Gavin Bollard, author of Life with Asperger’s
“Cohen-Rottenberg is emotionally honest and skilled at relaying the stories from her childhood and adulthood that made her the person she is today....A highly recommended read."—Kate Goldfield, author of Common Scents: Adventures with Autism and Chemical Sensitivity
“What Rachel has written, few others would be able to....An enlightening journey."—Jon Gilbert, author of Same Child, Different Day
My memoir The Uncharted Path: My Journey with Late-Diagnosed Autism is now available in paperback for $17.95 and in PDF format for $8.95.
To purchase the book, please contact me by email. I accept payment via PayPal, by check, or by money order. You can also find the book for sale in paperback on Amazon.com.
Thank you for your interest in my work.
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg
rachel@journeyswithautism.com
My Visual Art
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