The Symbols We Live

At it’s most basic level, a symbol is an image which stands in for something else. We interact with symbols all the time. When most of us see this:

we know to look for a train. When we need to find a restroom, we look for this symbol:

Most of us, when we hear the word “heart,” don’t immediately think of the anatomically correct cardiac muscle that pumps blood through our bodies. Instead, we probably imagine something that looks like this:

which stands for lots of abstract ideas, including love, compassion, and Valentine’s Day.

Symbols give us a shortcut to communicate ideas that are more complicated or abstract. They provide a tangible way to interact with intangible ideas. They are images layered with meaning. As Thomas Carlyle wrote:

In a symbol there is concealment and yet revelation: here therefore, by silence and by speech acting together, comes a double significance. In the symbol proper… the Infinite is made to blend itself with the Finite, to stand visible, and as it were, attainable there. By symbols, accordingly, is man guided and commanded, made happy, made wretched.”

I think Carlyle is right: silence mixed with speech, the infinite combined with the finite. This is not a surprise to anyone, I’m sure. We’ve been trained to look for symbolism since our language arts classes in junior high school. Lately, however, I’ve been particularly interested in personal symbols, which are images layered with personal rather than universal meaning. We may all halt when we approach a red hexagon, a nearly universal symbol for “stop.” But I want to explore which images contain or represent significant ideas or concepts that are uniquely important to me.

This week, I was reading The Soul’s Palette: Drawing on Art’s Transformative Powers for Health and Well-Being by Cathy Malchiodi, a pioneer in the field of art therapy, who argues that making art may be as important to physical and spiritual health as balanced nutrition and regular exercise. Creative expression allows us to find guidance, soothe emotional pain, and renew energy. One way to do this is to pay attention to our personal symbols.

It’s easier to find personal symbols than you may think. You literally have them at your fingertips. As Malchiodi writes,

Each of us consciously or unconsciously chooses to have visual symbols–images and objects–in our environments. We are all drawn to certain colors, shapes, forms, patterns, and textures in our environment or may consciously place them around us in decorating our home . . . [They] have importance to us, remind us of a person, memory, or event, or simply give us pleasure when looking at them. These visual symbols tell a lot about what and how we value images.

She called our living spaces an “environmental collage,” which I think is great. Everytime we paint a room, hang a picture, place on object on a table, we are creating spaces that reflect what we value, and “stand in for” what brings us joy, pleasure and inspiration. Acknowledging these images gives us insight into our own creativity.

Touring Your Environment

Looking at my house as my own environmental collage, I got out my camera and decided to take a tour of my house. Room by room, I looked for the objects, textures, and colors that seemed special to me, the things that give me a thrill or sense of comfort or pleasure just looking at them. I spent about 30 minutes and took 77 photographs. Here’s a selection of what I found:

Birds

It turns out that I love birds. Although I already knew this on some level, I was surprised to see how many images of bird are in several rooms of my house. Some were gifts, some I purchased for myself, some I’ve had for two or three years, some I’ve had for twenty years. All of them, however, continue to give me joy.

Flowers

It’s not surprising to find flowers in a home, or in artwork. They are, after all, beautiful. But I really, really love flowers. I buy flowers for myself so regularly that it has become pointless for my husband to send them to me on special occasions. But I also like botanical prints of flowers. I am so soothed by the floral designs of artists such as William Morris and Charles Mackintosh that I bought not one, but two calendars so I could have their art on my walls. And I also discovered the flower on the glass piece done by my friend Laurel Wilder.

Shiny Things

I like glass. This is not something I necessarily understood about myself until I started to notice how much I was drawn to shiny, translucent objects. It hit home when I saw how many of my treasured objects were made of glass, including the glass piece I found in a gallery this summer. Many had meaning for other reasons. The starfish has always been a favorite symbol, but I noticed that the one on my bathroom counter is made of glass. I don’t have much in the way of awards, but the one I got from the college where I worked was a glass apple, and I have always loved its shape and shine. (Plus, I was interested to notice that I had placed it next to one of my favorite Olivia books.) My sister gave me the little Swarovski crystal pen and inkstand years ago and it sits on my desk where I see it every day. And glass mixed with fire is just plain magic.

and finally…

Things I Love Because I Love Them

There is no common logic for these. I can’t tell you why I’m drawn to hedgehogs and sea turtles and starfish and Olivia the Pig. I just know that they make me happy to look at them. Plus, they provide surefire birthday or Christmas gift ideas. Also, I don’t love cooking, but I am much happier about it if I can use my Staub cast iron enameled pot that is a gorgeous, deep red. And I write better if I’m using my cobalt blue fountain pen and on the creamy pages of my Moleskine notebook.

These are only 19 of the 77 photographs I took, and I’ll spare you the rest. The point, after all, is that these are the images that are meaningful to me. However, I encourage you to spend some time in your home and pay attention to the objects and images that make up your environmental collage. Notice if there are trends or common categories. If nothing else, you will be reminded that the spaces we build around us–our homes, offices, cars, workshops–are a reflection of our creative selves. Even beyond that, you might get an idea of the imagery  that you can incorporate into other sorts of artistic expression–poetry, prose, painting, collage. I’m excited to spend some time journaling about the images I discovered in my own home.

But that can wait for now. It’s time to go buy some more flowers.