automatism automatasm automatorgasm
art bursts by the late surrealist Donna Balma
auto auto motto motto matic attic mad ism
automatism is the avoidance of conscious intention while producing works of art, especially by using mechanical techniques or subconscious associations
ohh AUTOMATISM what how now and who art thou for . . .
to help conjure an impulse to hatch a shape to fill this great avoid
to count the infinite ways to massage the kinks in forming your nebulous neck
to clutch a pen and scribble frenetically until a sketchy spine is born
automatism as subconscious spill station
automatism as comic/cosmic generator
automatism as no-brainer fixation to getting your creative rocks off
there are lots of ways to structure automatic impulses for art making
frame games for art maims (art m’aime)
ways to make meaningless art meaning full
try obsessive marks erasing marks embellishing marks smear here trace tear rearrange embrace smudge outline repetition repetition repetition
let’s start with doodles sure why knot
how do you frame time ?
what’s your time frame?
art passes
artists pass
art passes on
I was born (1980) and raised on the Sunshine Coast, BC, Canadada which is basically a retirement community full of artist hermits. The series of small towns stretching between Langdale to Egmont is a lala land haven for all sorts of art outliers. Picture many meandering forest lined driveways all branching out from one length of highway that leads either to the beach or to the foot of a green mountain. wikipedia says the Sunshine Coast is home to more artists per capita than any other Canadian region. wow. It’s also a part of Canada that has grown to basically be an extension of West Vancouver, which is one of the wealthiest parts of the country. Imagine multi-million dollar mansions with picturesque views that dominate the skyline and beachfront, and unfortunately most of these sit empty throughout the year because these hulking buildings are just someone’s summer home. For the record I don’t have access to any of these palaces! but there are still a handful of cabins and rentals to be found tucked in amongst the dream homes of the Sunshine Coast. and the locals will become familiar or indifferent to the list of isolated and eccentric artists that live (and die) clinging to their piece of privilege in this paradise.
A few notable Sunshine Coast artists that i admire are: Anna Banana (performance & mail art), Maurice Spira (oil painting), Giorgio Magnanensi (sound art).
Do you have an older artist in your neighbourhood that fascinates you? An art mentor can be anyone in any field, but surely everyone needs at least one living (or dead) eccentric artist to (un)learn techniques and approaches from.
Donna Balma was one such artist that I got to meet while she was alive. She was an innovative and prolific artist who lived in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast. She sketched, painted, made prints, knit, sculpted and photographed trash among other things. Balma was a self-taught mixed media artist whose work has been described as: authentic, original, outsider, singular, primitive, surreal, psycho-realist, classical, and cosmic pop. (wtf is cosmic pop?!) I was friends with her on fb which is where i yoinked most of these images of her art where she was hellbent on posting her stuff until the end. She was an avid user of Automatism in art making and all of the images here use that method of conjuring. She was apparently a “late starter” as an artist and her work was profoundly affected by nature and internal visions.
Donna Balma attended Antioch University in Vancouver B.C. for Independent Studies 1970-1971, the Canadian College of Massage & Hydrotherapy from 1985 – 1986, and studied at Leach Pottery in St. Ives, England from 1974-1975. She was also a visual composer and improviser at LotFive Sound 2010-2013.
Born in Vancouver on October 3, 1934, Donna Balma died peacefully in her home in Roberts Creek, British Columbia on March 30, 2022 at 87 years old.
“I don’t think artists ever retire” -DB
“I love challenges, I’ll work one time with just five colours for a challenge, or if I’m reading about theosophists, I’ll paint that.” -DB
Codex Umbilicus is a hardcover book that has no text; it’s entirely tiny drawings of entities, creatures, and endlessly morphing shapes in an imagined pictographic language.
“sometimes they feel to me like DNA, charged with all kinds of ancestral information, armoured, costumed and ready for action. i see japanese warriors, insects, plants, clothing.....they are whatever anyone sees” -DB
Donna sent Codex Umbilicus to me in 2018 while i was caring for my mom Shelley who was dying. (I absolutely cherish the book!) At that time I immediately shared the images with my ailing mom who instantly seemed confused. Shelley was perplexed and asked in a peeved tone ”what the heck is this?” omg mom. maybe Codex Umbilicus was too abstract for her. I guess that dying is abstract enough and maybe dying people prefer less abstract books (?) Or maybe my mom and I didn’t share the same taste in art and i’m sure that’s a topic to unwrap later.
“Donna has an arresting vocabulary of images. In her paintings the images take on a visceral structure, are bold and vigorous, full of energy and excess – with a hint of being erotic. Her prints and drawings on the other hand, are creations of detail and minutiae. It is in these mediums that the rhythm and pulse of her work take on a more medievalist manner. They are mazes of intricacy and examination – a personal odyssey of adventure and discovery. They are complex confrontations, begging for time and careful reading “ –R.B. Wainwright, RCA
“Sometimes I look at pieces in my collection and I can’t believe I painted that. ‘Where did that come from?’” -DB
Donna often collaborated with other artists and had several longstanding exquisite corpse mail art correspondences on the go. In particular she was sending interactive pieces back and forth with Gibsons based artist Nadina Tandy. Together they published a book of their work and I even wheedled my hand into one or two of their corpses over the years.
During her final years, Donna was making temporary art from trash she called “Shelters”.
“Fotos of the newest “Shelters". I build them using throwaway packaging and when I deem them finished they are photographed and posted in FB. Once that's done they are dismantled & all the materials are disposed of so I can start building the next one. a different shelter. another shelter.” -DB
"words are phrases shut tight." -Donna Balma
Wow, Balma is so fascinating! Now I want to make exquisite corpses, they are pleasantly surreal 🌈