I have a gift that I discovered in my twenties. I could read art and know how the people who made it felt when they made their art. This gift has developed a great deal since I started working with people to lessen their suffering, using art-making in the process. Today much more information comes to me through people’s art. And more still comes through my own art-work, done in people’s presence, or when I am aware of them.
I used to be a graphic designer and an illustrator. I wrote for children and a little bit for adults. I came to NYC in 1985, 40 years old, married with three children and started a new career as an illustrator only. A few years later I became involved with Chan Meditation Center and studied meditation and Buddhist knowledge with the late Master Sheng-yen from Taiwan. For twelve years I was in a process of deepening my meditation. I had many more experiences and insights and my life changed. After having illustrated more than 40 children’s books and writing two of them, I left this career too and went to NYU to study art therapy.
ByGiora Carmi
I am starting this project. The final acceptance of everything. It will be like Dzogchen through art. And I start from this painting, which I did at night, around 1 am, with the experience of this strong and crazy pain that was sharper than the usual, to which I have gotten used already. I prop the…
ByGiora Carmi
Can’t sleep. The phenomenon called pain is very active. And in addition there is some energy in me. I don’t know what it is, but it makes me awake. I slept for three hours. I am very awake and clear. I come to the studio and do this drawing. At first, before I put the…
ByGiora Carmi
For some time, faces wanted to come into my abstract drawings. It took me some time to let them in. They were persistent. Late at night, which is already the next day’s morning, on 4/2/14 I came to my table to write: I see now and admire the child, the little child, furious and angry,…
ByGiora Carmi
In the middle is a package With a secret Of unknown consequences All other things in this picture could be microbes With a very elaborate social order And rules of conduct But in spite of that They cannot contain their joy For just being able to move their fingers And toes And they keep doing…
ByGiora Carmi
3:30 am. If it hurts too much, I’ve learned to not let it go on. I get up and become more vertical to the earth for some time, I put an ointment on the skin and wait for the pain to subside. I am very awake and it feels good. What would you expect your…
ByGiora Carmi
I discovered a pattern in a series of drawings that I made lately. These drawings were made during a period of three days. They are not all the drawings that I made. They are just a sampling. The pattern is of a layered history. I had this pattern in many other drawings that I did…
ByGiora Carmi
Here is another example of reading art. When you look at the drawing at first it seems as if it will be hard to tell something clear about it. But as I started describing what I see, the vision became clear. This is the fun in this game. The truth is always hiding in plain…
ByGiora Carmi
Obviously there is in this drawing something that grows. And also there is a relationship. The relationship is between two groups. The green and brown is one group and the yellow and ochre is the second group. The yellow and the ochre are free from attachment to the ground. They are transparent and interpenetrating with…
ByGiora Carmi
Somehow I lost the drive to read art. I mean to read my art. I still read others’. I feel resistance to reading mine. Maybe the reason is that I think: Well, what is the point? It does not mean much, since I am not attached to it. There is no reason why I’ll let…
ByGiora Carmi
The man is a chair He is bent as if he is sitting And as if he is playing the mandolin Or is he a sound? The fire starts cold And then Maybe he is dancing His head is only lightly attached And without his head He is turning into light Who is this man?…
ByGiora Carmi
I feel as if there is a cloud in my head. I don’t feel like doing anything. I am not pulled by anything. I feel tired. My eyes almost close. What to do? I can sleep. But I choose to make a drawing. There are five systems in the drawing: the brown, the ochre, the…
ByGiora Carmi
The door swings open The man is trying to stand But it is all going to fall on him now Will something good happen in the end? He had built a structure And it is like a cartoon now The man is lying on his stomach The telescope collapses on him Many people collapse on…
