Amy E. Fraser's Book: Dissecting The Western Woman Artist; An Artist’s Dialogue

The Female Artist's Emotional Center

The next organ inspected in the internal examination was the heart. The exterior of subject's heart appears healthy, however, a dissection is necessary for determining the cause of Amy E. Fraser's art.

Physiological And Cultural Aspects

The heart is a hollow muscle in the middle of the chest that pumps blood around the body. It supplies cells with oxygen and nutrients. The heart beats 60 to 80 times a minute when the body is at rest and during times of exercise, stress or excitement the heart rate may increase to 200 beats a minute.

The heart is a powerful and widely used metaphor in Western culture. The word heart is used to describe everything from location to personality, emotional pain, jealousy, memory, intent, lust and even vulnerability. The extensive use of heart metaphors indicates this body part's great cultural and personal significance. The heart is not only vital to our bodily existence but it is also central to Western culture's conceptions of humanity, femininity and well being. The heart is felt by some to be the essence of one's personality, an individual's basic quality or essential character.

Metaphorically Speaking

'Heart' is commonly used as a metaphor indicating the center of one's total personality, especially with reference to intuition, feeling or emotion. A common phrase is 'in your heart you know it's true' or 'do what your heart tells you'. When referring to the heart we are often describing an individual's capacity for sympathy or affection. We also use the word heart to describe one's spirit, courage or enthusiasm. To get to the heart of a matter, we discover the vital or essential part of that issue. A heart can refer to the inner most, central part or core of anything. The heart is Western culture's symbol for life, love and pain.

Western culture believes one can have his or her heart crushed or broken through love and loss. We often state that another is after one's own heart. Children memorize things such as home phone numbers by 'heart'. A feisty woman may wink and tease, stating 'eat your heart out' to one whose heart is already in his or her throat over her beauty. We make promises from the bottom of our hearts and we feel as though we have the ability to love with all our heart. Well intentioned people have their heart in the right place. Some eat or cry until their hearts are content and others wear their hearts on their sleeve.

Often, older people in Western culture refer to the heart as 'the old ticker'. The name ticker commonly refers to a pace maker device but it also describes the blub, blub sound of the heart in the same way we describe the tick tock sound of a clock. The clock analogy of the heart is interesting to me mainly because of the similarities shared between our culture's conceptions of the uterus and a woman's biological clock, or other references to the cyclical and timely nature of the menstrual cycle. The heart also stands as a time device. It symbolizes the cycles of life and death. When the human clock stops ticking, then life as we know it will end.

Western Symbol Of Femininity

The heart is an important and well known feminine symbol in Western culture. On St. Valentine's Day, the heart shape is commercially celebrated as a symbol of love and relationships. It is considered a feminine symbol because emotion and the realm of the heart have traditionally been considered woman's territory. The heart symbol is almost exclusively represented in the culturally designated feminine colors of pink, purple and red, the same colors associated with the menarche. Little girls grow up claiming the heart as 'their' symbol, wearing mass-produced heart-shaped jewelry, heart patterned clothing and consuming an abundance of heart shaped candy.

The brain is the most highly respected body part in Western culture. The powers of the mind consist of logic, restraint, intellectualism and control. These descriptions coincide with Western culture's conceptions of masculinity. Conversely, the heart is seen as the brain's opposite because it's emotions imply the lack of logic or linear thought. Emotions are a difficult subject for most Western people. Generally, 'cultured' people believe that there is a time and a place for emotion, if one is to express it. We believe in restraining the power of the heart in order to not appear weak, out of control or 'feminine'. To be referred to as emotional is often considered an insult.

The Primal Power of the Heart

Many members of Western civilization experience the heart as a potentially overwhelming force that warrants, yet resists, control. Similar to Western misconceptions about the brain, many perceive the heart as an entity separate from and superior to the body. The heart is credited with the powers to corrupt and control the body's functions. Western people believe their feelings and emotions are irrational, uncontrollable and beyond bodily containment. People are overcome with rage, they drown in their sorrows, become paralyzed with fear or are blinded by love, all the while remaining consciously aware that they are behaving in a manner that they want to control, yet cannot.

Psychologists suggest that it is within the emotional, non-conscious psychic realm of the heart, that all our early experiences are stored. This may explain why children are more emotional in their psychological orientation than adults. Studies show that verbal and rational thinking and the overall maturation of the conscious mind develops much later in life. Emotion is the first and most primal of all mental functions. From the moment we are able to see, we are able to experience emotion through visual, facial and verbal affect. We can determine another's mood or emotional state from attitude and body language.

Emotion And Art

Emotion can be our bodies' physical response to certain visual stimulus. Images that cause us to respond emotionally may be part of our genetic code, collective unconscious, cultural conditioning or life experience. The degree or extent to which we respond may vary depending on the viewer's age, gender, physical health or mental state. Environment and time of day may also change the way in which an image is viewed and may affect how 'real' or powerful that image can become.

Artists are believed to have a lot of heart. They are often seen as hypersensitive, overly responsive, obsessive, neurotic, demonstrative, high-strung, sentimental, passionate, impetuous and sometimes even hysterical. We are known to both verbally and visually express our strong feelings, excitement and agitation. We are believed to be overflowing with heat, love, vehemence, hate, anger, jealousy, sorrow, fear, despair, compassion, pride and self satisfaction. We can be moody and temperamental. We are subject to states of irritation and melancholy. We can be morbid and dismal at times and, at other times, be up beat and full of life. We are as well known for our sympathy and compassion toward humanity as we are for our desire for separation and isolation. We are sensitive beings with strong opinions, different attitudes toward life, and strange relationships to our instincts and intuitions.

As an artist and a woman, I am, at times, all of those aspects of the heart. Aspects of the heart are important to the creation of art in infinite ways. Expressing emotions and moods are the main reason art is created. Beauty could not, or would not, exist if we were unable to feel, react to and express it.

As an artist, I control the world of my canvas. I direct what is seen. I attempt to recreate what affects me emotionally based on my intimate knowledge and experience. I communicate feelings through color, texture, symbol, archetype, animals, nature and the female figure. The emotive images are based on a combination of intuition, instinct, memory and intellect.

Through my female figures I am able to convey many emotions, sensations and feelings. The figures express heart through their facial expressions, body movements and gestures. The position, posture, attitude, stance and mannerisms affect how the viewer reacts to her. Compositional placement, location and viewpoint also affect emotional response. The circumstance or situation in which the figure is placed also changes how the viewer emotes toward the figure. As artists we must be aware of how these options affect our audience in order to most effectively convey the intended emotional message.

There is no set formula to the ways in which I attempt to evoke emotion. However, in my works, I have observed tendencies toward certain visual language and devices. If I want to boldly confront the viewer with a particular message, I tend to make the female figure larger, more central, at eye level or closely cropped, in an 'in your face' type of stance. If the work is to express confusion, frustration, complexity or doom, I often use cramped, claustrophobic compositions. If the intent is to inspire respect, admiration, honor or worship for my figure or concept, I place the viewer's perspective at the woman's feet, forcing the viewer to look up to her. If I want the viewer to feel sadness or sympathy for the figure, I place the figure where the viewer can look down to her. Sorrow, suffering, misery and anguish are often depicted through tightly enclosed, bent or crouched figures. Bravery, strength, courage, power and positive feelings are expressed through open, or spread out figures, often with flowing hair. Small figures are often scared or unreachable characters. Hope is expressed by the figure looking forward toward the future. Anger, fury and hatred are expressed through clenched jaws and fists. Nervousness, trepidation and excitement can be found in erect nipples and curled fingers and toes. The body's ability for language and expressing emotions of the heart are limitless.

I believe that heart is found in every part of my figure, from her eyes and mouth to her hair and feet. Heart is infused into every stroke, every symbol, shape and color. My work is heart. It expresses the essence of my personality, beliefs, experiences, and emotions.

Many of the paintings shown on AEFraser.com are good examples of hair expressing emotion. Often times, I use the woman's hair as a barometer of her feelings, in the same way one is able to assess the mood of a cat by it's tail. The hair and tail both appear possessed with a life and electricity of their own. The hair's shape and movement may express emotions contradictory to the woman's facial expression or body language, like a cat's tail gives warning to the animal's true thoughts.