Note: the inner imaging process can follow through all 8 layers sequentially, in the order presented below, as they are developmentally arranged, or they can be tried out individually, or in any sequential order, as desired. Keep in mind, however, that layer 1 always stands in as the foundation and ground for all the other layers, and for that reason layer 1 acts as a valid starting place.

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Structuring Process (Inner Objective Context)

Describing Process (Inner Objective Content)

Reflecting Process (Outer Subjective Content)

Forgetting Process (Inner Subjective Content)

Inner Imaging: Looking into an artwork as an event or into a version of real life as an event

 

Before starting ask an intrinsic question about your expectations. (or better still, ask two questions, one about your personal expectations, and one about your expectations of the artwork).

Layer 1

Forgetting Process

Try to make sure that no one is telling you what to see before you have an opportunity to see it for yourself, quietly, uninterrupted; set yourself on a journey that is not pre-planned; let yourself enter into the work and drift through its space, and time on the journey without feeling any need to direct yourself; there’s no need to feel required to verbalize anything at this stage; exit from the process only when you feel that the journey itself is ready to close.

Layer 2

Remembering Process

Try to recall the journey (in the order in which events occurred), remembering both the sensations that you experienced within yourself and what you noticed outside in the image itself.

Layer 3

Reflecting Process

Try to imagine yourself inside the work, as one of the characters or one of the shapes or colors; re-experience the journey inside the new ‘body;’ try to imagine looking back out at yourself to see what it feels like and to take note of what you see in the external world.

Layer 4

Revealing Process

Try to imagine that you are allowed to re-make the image as your own creation; first un-make it keeping only those aspects that you don’t want to erase; then update those that you would like to revise; or better still, try to make a new work based fully on your experience or on ideas that emerged during the journey.

 

Note that all of the above layers of experience are first and foremost inner image experiences; no outward, outer imaging processing is necessary. If you want to delve deeper into inner imaging with the artwork, continue with layers 5 through 8 below.

However, you may prefer to start outer imaging right away. For each and/or any of the four experiences (but especially the fourth), it's possible at this stage to act out something: to speak or write about the event, to make your own work, to think in a new way, to speak newly, to dance with awakened embodiment, to sing the emerging insights, to walk without using some of the previous crutches of life. Artists tend to make new artworks; others may make less obvious, that is, more subtle shifts in their lives-as-lived. Both outcomes (both types of outer images) are entirely valid. If you want to share your outer image with others who also share their artwork, you can submit it to the ArtBankORG.

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Layer 5

Describing Process

Try to make a mental note of everything seen, heard, or felt, including all the details of the subject matter (if it is discerned), all the details of the technics (the materials and tools that left their trace), and all the details of the linguistic aspects (the symbolic uses of visual language[image and/or text], and/or the auditory language [music and/or speech], and/or the haptic language [feeliongs somatically perceived], and/or the emotional language [feelings emotionally perceived]; then make a mental note of the main items. Later, when outer imaging, you can share your findings with others (contributing to a community of voices) by paying close attention to detail as intrinisic to the meaning in your artwork.

Layer 6

Structuring Process

Try to search out, in your mind’s eye, ways to describe the patterns of organization in which the parts are orchestrated into a whole; then make a mental note of the main ones Later, when outer imaging, you can share your findings with others (contributing to a community of voices) by constructing overriding patterns as intrinisic to the meaning in your artwork.

Layer 7

Interpreting Process

Try to make a mental note of the possible meanings that emerge from the feelings experienced and technic/linguistic discoveries perceived in the above layers of experience Later, when outer imaging, you can share your findings with others (contributing to a community of voices) by searching out technic/linguistic ways to articulate in depth meaings in your artwork.

Layer 8

Retro-Activating Process

Try to reflect on the whole experience of engaging with the artwork and evaluate the experience; evaluate its meaning in terms of your own life. Then make a mental note of aspects that can be used in future experiences with art and/or life events. Later, when outer imaging, you can share your findings with others (contributing to a community of voices) by incorporating your findings in new situations. Finally, reconsider the original question(s) asked and the possibility of constructing an answer.

If you want to share your outer image with others who also share their artwork, you can submit it to the ArtBankORG.

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Note that all of the above experiences are first inner imaging experiences; they are all made possible without any outward action—without any outer imaging; only after the inner imaging is fulfilled need one start outer imaging or start engaging in dialogue in a community of voices. After the inner imaging process is fulfilled, then, it’s possible to be proactive in the real world. It's possible to act out (outer image) something: to speak or write about the event, to make your own work, to think in a new way, to speak newly, to dance with awakened embodiment, to sing the emerging insights, to walk without using some of the previous crutches of life.

Artists tend to make new artworks; researchers, new research; teachers, new teachings; critics, new critiques; while others, not directly involved in the arts, will make outer images appropriate to their life’s work—results that may not be manifest as 'art,' but rather as 'life', that is, in other forms central to their lives-as-lived. A basic outline of general types of outer imaging is provided to facilitate the making process.

 

Just as inner listening must occur before outer speaking (for adults as well as for young children), so inner imaging occurs before outer imaging. Those who claim that they like to start inner imaging with a completely open and blank inner image can start by pretending that they are free from past constrains. However, they very soon will likely find themselves making decisions on the basis of an inner image desire that has long-range historically-based aspirations. On the other hand, those who claim that they can initiate an outer imaging experience with a completed, filled-in inner image, ready to be copied, will also almost invariably, especially if they are creatively inclined and responsive to feedback from each action in the making process, find themselves making unpredicatable decisions on the basis of an inner image desire that has long-range historically-based aspirations.

*The eight layers noted here represent a short summary. For a detailed version of both the Response and the Reflective Practices, and the theory behind them, see: Horner, The Subject of Art in Process, pp. 70-100 (Volume 2); Publisher: <The Subject of Art in Process: Undressing the Emperor's Nude Close - Towards a MetaModern Art and ArtEducation)>. The sequential order is developmental and archetypal. Initially it is advisable to follow the given sequenced order of layers; however, after a repertoire of experience has been acquired, one can feel typically free to skip and slide back and/or ahead, as the occasion seems to demand it, remembering, of course, that Layer 1 is the ground for all the other layers.

 

Want to share your response results with others? 
You can submit them to the ArtBankORG.

Guide Sheet

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