INSPIRATION

Incubation

Cultivate the collected information unconsciously. My subconscious and conscious minds synthesize the knowledge fragments into an idea to develop a point of view — causing the reader to make sense and interpret the project/artists’ book. The narrative is woven into a tapestry of feelings and thoughts. Step back from the topic and allow the mind to work through and contemplate potential alternative solutions for the topic.

Eureka moment

The moment of insight when your mind identifies a potential solution and makes you aware of it.

What represents your first wonderful memories as a teenager? For me the fantasy of love unattainable of discovering sexuality comes to mind. Nostalgia is built on wistfulness, a longing for something you can't have anymore, except in memory. Thinking of the 60s brought back images that are etched in my thoughts and helped define who I am.

Going back in time is easier than ever, since one can find pretty much anything on the Internet. Exploring and watching a range of Western TV series I enjoyed at the time, made me want to study my photo albums. This helped to bring some connection between my youth, my inspiration and my reality.

What brings us back — time and time again — to an old beloved TV show? What can be more exciting to an adolescent girl than an action-packed TV western with two handsome hunky guys. The silver screen portrays this « amour fou » as poetry in motion, an irresistible melody, breathtakingly beautiful and charismatic.

Lancer, James Stacy as Johnny Lancer, Andrew Duggan as Murdoch and Wayne Maunder as Scott Lancer. TM and Copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. Courtesy IMdb.

I binge watched on YouTube the only two seasons ever produced of Lancer, a Western series that aired from September 1968, to June 1970 — even in Canada. The episodes reflected the struggles of rancher Murdoch Lancer (Andrew Duggan) and his two sons, Scott (Wayne Maunder) and Johnny (James Stacy). With a sigh of abandonment after viewing 51 episodes of Lancer’s short lived fame, I was easily transported back to my youthful years with thoughts of what encompassed sexiness for me in the late 60s. My idea of romantic notions was formed — the tough guy with a heart of gold full of tenderness.

At this point I couldn’t get enough of James Stacy; he seemed the ideal subject. Searching for any TV series or movies he might have appeared in helped to grasp what enticed me to his character — Johnny. The character that prompted me from a quiet innocence to feminine and sexual awareness. The more I watched, the more I could follow the reasoning behind my choice then and my choice of a partner in real life. That evoked a panoply of thoughts and a spiral down the rabbit hole on the Internet. I started to appreciate the events that led to my life at this point.

James Stacy seemed ubiquitous — all my searches led to his persona Johnny!

Lancer, James Stacy as Johnny Lancer, TM and Copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. Courtesy Everett Collection. Johnny dressed Mexican style; he wore calzoneras, pants buttoned down the length of each leg with silver conchos and embroidered buttonholes. His favourite shirt was pink/salmon colour with black embroidery; he wore an Indian bracelet and necklace. As a young female, I noticed Johnny was a man secure in his own sexuality.

As my project developed, the memory of my infatuation with Johnny became heightened and I remembered a lot more about my own becoming of age story. Seeing him young and alive — the distinctive way he strolled, the mesmerizing way his eyes and smile lit up a room…

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. — Dr. Seuss

As a teenage girl glued to the TV every Tuesday night, my breath was taken away as Johnny appeared on screen. Wayne Maunder and James Stacy set many a young girl's heart, and even now, more mature hearts aflutter… The theme song alone brings back all those feelings of being 14. The series became a means of learning about my femininity and the joys of first love. Somehow, after 52 years since the last episode of Lancer aired, the persona of Johnny Madrid Lancer did not sink into the abyss of my memory.

Every so often, taking a step back from my topic allowed my mind to work through alternative solutions for the theme of infatuation. I searched for actors, for passages, for songs, for other TV shows I viewed in the 60s. These pauses were not a waste of time, they added value to the work — tangents are a pathway to creativity. I continued talking with friends about their coming of age stories — more tangents. This helped to recall the fascination with other young actors of that time (Lee Majors, Doug McClure, Troy Donahue). Why my choice? No other actor had all the qualities that the persona of Johnny portrayed. Mr Stacy’s interpretation of the character seemed to be imbued with his own style. As an adolescent girl, he was fascinating!

As my obsession regarding these moments from my past grew, I dove deeper into celebrities and their lives… I started detecting the danger of becoming a stalker or experiencing voyeuristic tendencies as the topic of infatuation grew.

How do I represent this obsession?

After researching and INVESTIGATING the structure and content of my book, I again meandered down the path of no return on the internet. It took hours to watch and remember the feeling of “teenage love.” A feeling that will never truly be back…

I realized that my topic had to be a study in teenage crush — an infatuation. Infatuation represents a feeling of foolish or obsessively intense love, admiration, or interest in someone, whether real or fantasized. The idea will come to life as I meditate on how celebrity culture influences our feminine psyches.

Next month, let’s look at the relatively brief IDEATION stage while I explore and illuminate the idea further. This stage will involve a strong rush of insight in a brief span of time.

Reading you, Louise, I can see that this book could be undoubtedly be personal. You're going back to your roots, your passions from before, in nostalgia as you say. In your article, you talk a lot about the feeling you had for Johnny the persona played by James Stacy and not a lot about your book. This makes your approach even more intriguing.

You're still researching and you must be having a lot of fun going through all your memories and impressions. You could work with that too, that inner excitement. Often working on something that is unique to us becomes universal.

I thought of one of my books. I love dishes and I have pieces that come from family or people close to me. When I made "Floor plan with mementos" it was exactly that. Memories directly related to things I grew up with.

Unlike you, I make models at the same time as I research the content and the way it will be presented. The idea of working on one object per piece came up fairly quickly in my process. In the photos, I present the drawings, early models, prints and collages that went into the final version of the book. I can't wait to see the shape of yours! — Guylaine Couture

© 2014 Guylaine Couture. "Floor plan with mementos" is a book which takes the shape of a plan of a house once deployed. My mother was very passionate about dinnerware and so am I. I have pieces that once belonged to several significant people in my life. For this book, I chose some pieces and I wrote about each of them the souvenirs that connected it to me. Every piece is also associated with a room in an imaginary house. In every room, there is a small booklet which introduces the story and a collage / drawing which represents it.

Other artists have been intrigued by the subject of “love” and its many layers. Many people have felt the arrows of Cupid. The gaze or attention of another person real or fantasy brings us to an awareness that something has a hold on us for a moment or for eternity.

Theia Mania, is a multi-layered project created by Alicia Bailey, fed by inspiration and experiences rooted in her childhood.

The working title of the early stages was Magnetic Attraction. It began with the intention to create a book with text, imagery, sound and smell. I wanted to generate content from a broader point of view than my own, so used contributions from friends and strangers alike, along with what drives much of my studio work; a longing to become familiar with experiences outside my own. Theia Mania was a term used by ancient Greeks to describe the cauldron of emotions rooted in eros, romantic love, a passionate longing and desire. The phrase translates to divine madness or madness of the Gods. This project was inspired by and presents stories of contemporary connections in both audio and written form, including the story of my parents’ meeting, marrying and raising a family. This project is the result of an intermingling of stories told by those who have been struck by a sensation of instant connection with another. In the classical world such pricks from a dart of Eros were called 'Theia Mania' (madness of the gods).