Jung, Art and the Alchemical Imagination

For nine weeks beginning in January 2023, award-winning artist and educator Ann McCoy will take us into the alchemical processes within the psyche and how artists have created these images in varied art forms.

In addition to reviewing some of the most powerful of classical alchemical images, an in-depth examination of the role of contemporary artists in each of the alchemical processes will be a touchstone of the course.

This is a class for anyone, including artists and writers, wanting to explore alchemy and psyche in general.

Course Outline

1. The Alchemical Axis. This first class will use Plate One of The Splendor Solis, as a jumping off point to explore the voyage from the conscious world into the depths of the unconscious–and the trepidation that may accompany this process.
2. The Solutio, this bathing in the waters, breaking down into solution, occurs in many forms and is portrayed in many paintings and videos in the work of Bill Viola and others.
3. The Calcinatio and the Fires. Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens of fire and furnace will be moved into the present as they resonate with our world in flames.
4. Moving from Three into Four, the Axiom of Maria the Jewess, and the role of the feminine in alchemical active imagination, and the process in general. Works by women artists will be featured in this section.
5. Mortificatio and Putrefactio. Dismemberment and Putrefaction will move into a discussion of agricultural and spiritual rebirth using the myth of Osiris and the work of artists like Agnes Denes with her urban wheatfield.
6. Coagulatio, when liquid returns to solid form. This image from the laboratory relates to many creation myths as well as artists working in the foundry. We will explore contents movement from the unconscious as they enter the realm of ego consciousness.
7. Will be a discussion of the alchemical colors (black, white, red) and focus on the Nigredo, Albedo, and Rubedo. This will include a discussion of depression as part of an introductory process.
8. Sublimatio, as the spirit ascends. From images of ascending doves and the assumption of the Virgin, this is still fertile ground for artists. This lecture loops back to the first lecture.
9. This lecture will feature images of the steps on the Mountain- Caves of the Adepts, it will be a summary discussion of movement between processes.