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PURPOSEThe Florida Artist Group was incorporated as a non-profit organiza-tion of practicing artists who had gained recognition nationally orstate-wide and whose work would contribute significantly to itsexhibitions. The purpose of the group is to stimulate attainment ofthe highest standards of creative art within the State of Florida.

ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM

Since 1949, the Florida Artist Group has held a symposium and amember’s exhibition each year in a different Florida city. Educationand other cultural aims are advocated at these meetings throughlectures, panel discussions and films.In addition to the Symposium and Exhibition held in the Spring, areaexhibitions and meetings are sponsored at other times in variousplaces in the state. The nature of these meetings follows, in a smallway, the character of the Spring meeting. They also serve to bringthe members of the organization more closely together.

JURIED SHOWSThe annual exhibition is juried for awards. The organization alwaysbrings in an eminent juror who is primarily associated with artadministration, education or an artist of national repute. Past loca-tions of exhibitions have included the Cummer Museum of Art &Gardens, Norton Museum, University of South Florida, Lowe Museum,Ringling Museum, Rollins College, University of Florida and manyother outstanding galleries and art centers.

FLORIDA ARTIST GROUP

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OFFICERS 2007 – 2008

President……………………….…………………………................AHLIN, MaitlandImmediate Past President…………………............Joyce Novak, NokomisVice President …………………............ Barre Barrett, Jacksonville BeachRecording Secretary………………………………….........Joan Lyon, SarasotaCorresponding Secretary……………………….......Brooke Allison, DunedinTreasurer……………………………….........Cecily Hangen, West Palm BeachMembership Chairman……………………............Jan Miller, St .Augustine

DIRECTORS

Area I Chairman……..………………………………........Anjal, Fort LauderdaleArea II Chairman……………………….....Cecily Hangen, West Palm BeachArea III Chairman……...………………..Judy Lyons Schneider, BradentonArea IV Chairman……....…..Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow, St. PetersburgArea V Chairman………………………………….......Mindy Z. Colton, OrlandoArea VI Chairman………………………......Sydney McKenna, St. AugustineArea VII Chairman…………………………………….........Joan Klutch, SanibelNewsletter…………….…………………………......... Roberta Schofield, TampaParliamentarian………………………….....Cecily Hangen, West Palm BeachPublicity and Promotion..……….........Linda K. Blondheim, GainesvilleMember at Large………………..………………….......Shirley Frank, SeminoleMember at Large………………………………........Richard W. Rosen, NaplesMember at Large....................................Joan Sonnenberg, NaplesMember at Large………………………………………........Robert York, Sanibel

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President The 57th Annual FLAG Symposium and Exhibition of more than 80works was full of enlightenment, color, energy and fun. We areindebted to the officers and staff of the Museum of Arts & Sciencesand David Soyer for hanging the show. FLAG was honored to have Dr Donald Kuspit, one of America'sdistingué art critics, as juror of awards. His lecture on magnetic artand resume are printed herein. Thanks to exhibition chairs, SydneyMcKenna and Jan Miller, for the superb organization of the sympo-sium, their tireless efforts which took countless hours and made it allhappen. Bravo! And to acknowledge all the members who assisted inhandling the many details of the symposium. It was a great turnoutof art and membership. Congratulations to Maribel Angel who won the prize for design ofour new logo! A highlight of the symposium was sharing ideas withfellow artists about our work. Seeing into the nature of things, insideand outside of ourselves. Some said that our work reflects theconsciousness of the times. It was agreed that this should be anannual affair. We are indebted to Roberta Schofield who created our website andserved as the webmaster with painstaking care in dealing with themyriad nitty-gritty details. We all wish to express our gratitude to Joyce Novak, our distin-guished past president, for her support and generous contributionsto our organization which have been significant. Cecily Hangen and Fermin Presno whose work on all phases of thecatalog has been extraordinary. Their response in regard to theimages reproduced so quickly with an eye to color and imaginativedesign and in cataloging the collection has been invaluable. It willbe smashing! Our very deepest thanks to all the excellent painters whose work isreproduced in these pages. Whatever merit this catalog may have isdue far more to their presence here than any words of mine.

A HAIKU for all, “Shimmering moonbeams Abstract, yet real Are bright precursors of content.”

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1949 No annual Exhibition President: Robert Hunter Director of the Norton Gallery, West Palm Beach

1950 1st Annual Exhibition University of Florida, Gainesville Juror: Robert Parsons, Director AAA Gallery, New York President: Hollis H. Holbrook

1951 2nd Annual Exhibition University of Florida, Gainesville Juror: Bartlett Hayes, Jr., Dir Addison Gallery of Art, Andover, MA Pres.: Willis F. Woods, Dir. of the Norton Gallery, West Palm Beach

1952 3rd Annual Exhibition Gallery of the Fort Harrison Hotel, Clearwater Juror: Lamar Dodd, Head of the Dept. of Art, Univ. of GA, Athens, GA President: Hilton Leech

1953 4th Annual Exhibition Sarasota Art Association Juror: Homer-Saint-Gaudens, Dir. of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA President: Hilton Leech

1954 5th Annual Exhibition Daytona Beach Art Center Juror: Wilbur David Peat, Director, Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN Pres. Helen Sawyer, N.A.

1955 6th Annual Exhibition Norton Gallery, West Palm Beach Juror: Thomas M. Beggs, Dir The National Collection of Fine Art, Smithsonian, Washington, DC Pres. Helen Sawyer, N.A

1956 7th Annual Exhibition Bradenton Art Center, Juror Herman Warner Williams, Jr. Dir. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Pres. Ralph H. McKelvey.

1957 8th Annual Exhibition Morse Gallery of Art, Rollins College, Winter Park Juror: Robert B. Hale, Head of the American Art Section Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY President: Ralph H. McKelvey

1958 9th Annual Exhibition The Tampa Art Institute Juror: Fred Conway, Muralist & Instructor, St. Louis School of Fine Arts, Washington University, St. Louis, MO President: Louis Freund

1959 10th Annual Exhibition Coral Gables Playhouse Gallery with the Univ. of Miami Art Dept. Juror: Thomas Tibbs, Director, Museum of Contemporary Crafts New York City President: Louis Freund

1960 11th Annual Exhibition Art League of Manatee County, Bradenton Juror: Donald Mattison, Dir. Herron Art Institute School, Indianapolis, IN President: Stella Coler

1961 12th Annual Exhibition Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach Jurors: John Taylor, Artist in Residence, Univ. Of Florida & Andree Ruelan, Painter President: Stella Coler

HISTORY OF ANNUAL EXHIBITIONS

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1962 13th Annual Exhibition Daytona Beach Art League Juror: Gibson A. Danes, Dean Yale Univ. School of Art & Architecture, New Haven, CT Pres.t: Dr. Robert E. Carson

1963 14th Annual Exhibition St. Augustine Art Association Juror: Carl Holty, Painter President: Dr. Robert E. Carson

1964 15th Annual Exhibition University of South Florida Art Gallery, Tampa Juror: James Byrnes, Dir. Issac Delgado Museum, New Orleans, LA President: Fred Messersmith

1965 16th Annual Exhibition Bradenton Art League Juror: Albert Christ-Janer, Dean of the Art School, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY President: Fred Messersmith

1966 17th Annual Exhibition Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville Juror: Boris Margo, Painter President: Harri Klotz

1967 18th Annual Exhibition Sarasota Art Association Juror: Dr. John Craft, Dir. Columbia Museum of Art, SC Presidents: Jim Crane & Dorothy Stewart

1968 19th Annual Exhibition Lowe Gallery, Miami Juror: Frank Kleinholz, Painter President: Dorothy Stewart

1969 20th Annual Exhibition J. Wayne Reitz Student Union, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville Juror: Joel Reeves, Dean, Atlanta School of Art, Atlanta, GA President: Dorothy Stewart

1970 21st Annual Exhibition Busch Science Center, Rollins College, Winter Park Juror: Edward Weeks, Curator, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA President: Dorothy Stewart

1971 22nd Annual Exhibition Venice Art League Juror: Albert Christ-Janer, former Director, Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY Artist in Residence University of Georgia President: Dr. Robert Carson

2nd Exhibition (Fall) Melvin Gallery, Florida Southern College, Lakeland Juror: Gudmund Vigtel, Director, High Museum, Atlanta, GA

1972 23rd Annual Exhibition St. Augustine Art Association Juror: Boris Margo, Painter President: Lee Lasbury

1973 24th Annual Exhibition Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Juror: Dr. Lester H. Cooke, Curator, National Gallery of Art Washington, DC President: Lee Lasbury

1974 25th Annual Exhibition St. Petersburg Museum of Art Juror: William H. Fagaly, Chief Curator, New Orleans Museum of Art President: Lee Lasbury

1975 26th Annual Exhibition Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach Juror: Donelson F. Hoopes, Curator of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Pres. Jean W. Troemel

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1976 27th Annual Exhibition Jacksonville Art Museum Juror: Cleve Scarbrough, Dir. of the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC Pres.: Jean W. Troemel

1977 28th Annual Exhibition Miami Metropolitan Museum and Art Center Juror: Tom Freudenheim, Dir. Baltimore Museum ofArt Pres.: Renya Youngerman

1978 29th Annual Exhibition Harmon Gallery, Naples Juror: Mario Amaya, Dir. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA Pres. Renya Youngerman

1979 30th Annual Exhibition Daytona Beach Museum of Art and Sciences Juror, David Reese, Painter and Teacher President: Lee Lasbury

1980 31st Annual Exhibition Sarasota Art Association Juror: Betty Parsons, owner Betty Parsons Gallery, NY President: Lee Lasbury

1981 32nd Annual Exhibition Jacksonville Art Museum Juror: Joseph Shannon, Chief of Exhibits and Design, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden President: Anne L. Atz

1982 33rd Annual Exhibition Boca Raton Center for the Arts Juror: Gudmund Vitgel, Dir. High Museum of Art Atlanta, GA President: Anne L. Atz

1983 34th Annual Exhibition Ridge Art Assoc. Gallery, Winter Haven Juror: Richard Anuszkiewicz, Painter President: Anne L. Atz

1984 35th Annual Exhibition Edison Community College, Fort Myers Juror: Will Barnet, Painter and Printmaker President: Anne L. Atz

1985 36th Annual Exhibition Longboat Key Art Center Juror: Dr. Ned Rifkin, Curator of Contemporary Art Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, DC President: Mamie Harrison

1986 37th Annual Exhibition Lee Scarfone Gallery, Tampa University Juror: Allen Blagden, Painter Pres. Mamie Harrison

1987 38th Annual Exhibition Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park Juror: Budd Bishop, Dir. Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio Pres.: Dorothy Stewart

1988 39th Annual Exhibition St. Augustine Art Assoc. Juror: E. John Bullard, Dir. New Orleans Museum of Art LA President: Dorothy Stewart

1989 40th Annual Exhibition Sarasota Art Association Juror: Dorothy Gilllespie, Painter and Sculptor President: Cecily Hangen

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1990 41st Annual Exhibition Naples Art Gallery Juror: Theodore F. Wolff, Art Critic, Christian Science Monitor President: Cecily Hangen

1991 42nd Annual Exhibition Melvin Gallery, Florida Southern College, Lakeland Juror: Robert Frankel, Dir. Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA President: Anne L. Atz

1992 No Annual Exhibition

1993 43rd Annual Exhibition Longboat Key Art, Center

Juror: Bruce H. Evans Dir. Mint Museum Charlotte, NC President: Anne L. Atz

1994 44th Annual Exhibition Daytona Museum of

Arts and Sciences Juror: John Steetmann, III Dir. Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences, IN President: Anne L. Atz

1995 45th Annual Exhibition Sarasota Visual Arts Center Juror: Arthur Roger, Owner Arthur Roger Galleries, New Orleans, LA President: Anne L. Atz

1996 46th Annual Exhibition Ridge Art Assoc. Gallery, Winter Haven Juror: Ned Rifkin, Dir. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA Vice President: Jean W. Troemel

1997 47th Annual Exhibition Venice Art Center Juror, Katherine Lee, Dir. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA President: Elizabeth Clement

1998 48th Annual Exhibition Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art Juror: David C. Levy, Dir. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC President: Elizabeth Clement

1999 49th Annual Exhibition Melvin Gallery, Florida Southern College, Lakeland Juror: Salvatore G. Cilella, Dir. Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC President: Elizabeth Clement

2000 50th Annual Exhibition Edison Community College Gallery of Fine Art, Ft, Myers Juror: Cleve Scarbrough, Dir. Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN President: Cecily Hangen

2001 51st Annual Exhibition 22nd Floor Gallery, Florida Capitol, Tallahassee Juror: William J. Hennessey, Dir. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA President: Cecily Hangen

2002 52nd Annual Exhibition The Arts Center St. Petersburg Juror: Ed Wolfley, Professor Emeritus, Univ.of Cincinnati, OH President: Don Carmichael

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2003 53rd Annual Exhibition St. Augustine Art Association St. Augustine Juror :Karen F. Quinn, Ass’t Curator Art of the Americas Boston Museum of Fine Arts President: Don Carmichael

2004 54th Annual Exhibition ArtServe Fort Lauderdale Juror, John Angeline, Ph.D. President: Robert York

2005 55th Annual Exhibition Florida Gulf University Art Gallery Fort Myers Juror Caroll Michels, Author, sculptor

2nd Juried Exhibition Boca Raton Museum of Art Juror: Kristen Hileman, Ass’t Curator, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Washington, DC President: Robert York

2006 56th Annual Exhibition Ridge Art Association Winter Haven Juror: James Yood Professor The Art Institute of Chicago, Author President; Joyce Novak

2007 57th Annual Exhibition Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences Wayne Atherholt, Director President: Joyce Novak

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Dr. Donald Kuspit is one of America’s most distinguishedart critics. Winner of the prestigious Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinc-tion in Art Criticism, Professor Kuspit writes regularly for Artforum, Sculp-ture, Tema Celeste magazines, as well as for Art Criticism and is on theadvisory board of Centennial Review. He has doctorates in philosophy(University of Frankfurt) and art history (University of Michigan), as well asdegrees from Columbia University, Yale University and Pennsylvania StateUniversity. He has received honorary doctorates in fine arts from DavidsonCollege, San Francisco Institute of Art and the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign. The National Association of the Schools of Art andDesign gave him a citation for Distinguished Service to the Visual Arts. He has delivered the Getty Lectures at the University of SouthernCalifornia and is a professor of Art History and Philosophy at the StateUniversity of New York at Stony Brook and has also taught at CornellUniversity. He has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, NationalEndowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, Guggen-heim Foundation, among other organizations. Professor Kuspit has lectured at many universities and art schools andhas written numerous articles, exhibition reviews, and catalogue essays. Heis editorial advisor for European Art 1900 – 1950 and art criticism for thenew Encyclopedia Britannica and is on the board of the Lucy DanielsFoundation for psychoanalytic study of creativity. Kuspit is the author ofover 20 books published throughout the last 25 years.

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Magnetic Artby Donald Kuspit

Sydney McKenna tells me that I ought to talkabout something “practical”--I am quoting her. Shemeans by this “something that they”--meaning you—

“may take away with them to improve their profession-al skills--whether by painting a more compellingpiece of work, or a greater knowledge of what theyneed to do to secure good quality exhibition venues.” The latter is totally unpredictable, because, thesedays of innumerable air fairs, galleries, and museums,as well as the conflicting variety of curatorial opin-

ions, it is no longer clear what a “good quality exhibition venue” is. The former isimpossible. I know a fair amount about materials and techniques, and I think I have asense of what it means to be skillful, but I am not a practicing artist, although I am apracticing poet, words being my preferred medium. So I thought I’d do the next bestthing, something to which I can bring my art historical and psychoanalytic expertiseto bear on: I can try to help make you conscious of your creative process, so that youmight become more creative than you are, and, correlate with that, suggest theemotional reason your work might become compelling to some viewer--so compel-ling that it makes the viewer aware of her own creative process, usually repressedbecause it interferes with everyday practical life, although, if the work is trulycompelling, it will catalyze the viewer’s creativity in her area of life. To be compellingmeans to be creatively apperceived, which, as D. W. Winnicott argued, is what makeslife truly worth living and unconditionally meaningful. By causing the viewer toexperience the work creatively rather than matter of factly, or, to use another idea, bycreating a work which will give the viewer what Ananda Coomarswamy calls an

“aesthetic shock” (samvega in Pali), that is, “the shock or wonder felt when a work ofart becomes a serious perceptual experience,” and thus relieves the viewer of “distress”by affording “enlightened gladness,” the work of art justifies its special existence. Toput this yet another way, when Rilke experienced an Archaic Torso of Apollo hefamously asserted, in a poem, that the sculpture forcefully suggested that he changehimself. By making him conscious of the need to do so and of his life as he had livedit, the work of ancient art--a fragment of a sacred figure--in effect initiated the change,that is, inaugurated a creative process of self-recognition and self-transformation. Thismay be a tall order for a work of art, but unless it does so--unless it becomes creativelycompelling--it become just another object in a world crowded with objects. NowSydney has given me a clue how to proceed. She tells me that the plan “for theweekend involved Magnetic Poetry.” Apparently one of your “members gives work-shops on how to tap into inspiration and creativity through how one responds tolanguage.” The weekend involves an “abbreviated version” of such a workshop.

“Members will get name tags and are asked to choose several words from a selectionof magnetic poetry words.” You will be asked to reflect on the words you chose, talkto each other about your “poetic words,” and even “trade words with others over theweekend”-- a very intimate situation indeed, for it implies the special intimacy ofbeing magnetically attracted to each other, without necessarily knowing why. It

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sounds to me like you want to use the poetic words--and every word becomes poetic insuch an unusually “charged” situation--to hypnotize each other, confirming that thewords are compelling, the relationship between the word and its owner is compelling,and that the words become particularly compelling when they are traded or exchanged,and thus the possession of more than one person--which of course is exactly whathappens when the work of art becomes a serious perceptual experience. Unless the workof art becomes the possession of both the artist and viewer by becoming the medium ofa creative exchange between them it is not complete, as Duchamp famously argued inhis essay on “The Creative Act” (1946). This notion of magnetic poetic words--wordsthat mesmerize the viewer (the artist is also a viewer of her own material, that is, he ismesmerized by the medium she uses)--immediately brought to mind Breton¹s notion ofThe Magnetic Fields and the text with that title (Les Champs Magnétiques) he wrotewith Philippe Soupault in 1920. It was a key moment in the history of avant-gardeart--the moment when the unconscious, which Redon said the artist should wait on,explicitly burst onto the scene. Breton acknowledged that he was “completelyoccupied...with Freud at the time,”(1) but one should note that the idea of a magneticfield was developed by Michael Faraday. This truly revolutionary concept holds thatphysical reality is an expression, as it were, of a field of electrodynamic energy. Amagnet is “a body, as a piece of iron or steel, that possesses the property of attractingcertain substances, as iron.” A body is said to be magnetic when it is “capable of beingmagnetized or attracted by a magnet.” A magnetic field is “a region of space near amagnet, electric field, or moving charged particle in which a magnetic force acts on anyother magnet, electric field, or moving charged particle.” It is also “a vector quantitydefined by the force exerted on a given object at each point in such a region.” Amagnetic flux is “the total magnetic induction crossing a surface.” Finally, a magneticmoment is “the product of the strength of either magnetic pole of a dipole and thedistance between the poles.” Faraday regarded the “lines of force” that surround amagnet as “lines of tension.” It was Faraday who first realized that “every material [has]a specific inductive capacity.” The Symbolist poets, and later Breton, in effect extendedthis idea to words, a sort of mental material, or the material of consciousness. Each wordhas a specific inductive capacity, that is, a magnetic charge or power of attraction, it’sso-called charm or power to mesmerize the speaker who uses it and the listener whohears it, and even the reader who sees it on a written page--all the more so when spreadacross the page in a so-called shaped poem such as Mallarmé’s Un Coup de Dés,making them all the magnetically seductive. For Faraday, “electricity,” whatever it was,caused tensions to be created in matter. When these tensions were rapidly relieved (i.e.,when bodies could not take much strain before snapping back), then what occurred wasa rapid repetition of a cyclical buildup, breakdown, and buildup of tension that, like awave, was passed along the substance. Such substances were called conductors.” Forthe Symbolist poets and Breton that electricity was, psychically speaking, the uncon-scious, or, as the Symbolists called it, the unknown. A poem--any work of art, visual,musical, verbal--is a conductor in which there is a cyclical buildup, breakdown, andbuildup of unconscious tension--a certain rhythm composed of magnetized particles, bethey words and phrases, colors and shapes, notes and motifs, that is, materials chargedwith unconscious energy by their artist user--that has a hypnotic-magnetic effect on thelistener, viewer, reader--making it “compelling,” that is, a serious perceptual experience.The magnetic-mesmerizing effect--to magnetize is the same as to mesmerize or hypno-tize--is experienced as a creative apperception, that is, an “interpenetrating mix-up”with the work, involving experiencing it as an intimate environment activating and

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facilitating one’s creativity, and with that affording a fresh sense of selfhood andpossibility. An artist is someone who uses the raw materials of a medium to composeobjects that are hyper-magnetic--unconsciously attractive or seductive--because theymake the non-artist conscious of her unconscious feelings and thoughts and put her intouch with her primary or “original” creativity, suggesting that she also is an artist inprinciple. Compelling works of art create a magnetic field or mesmerizing aura thatcharges everything that enters it and thus comes under its influence or spell withcreative potential, that is, potential creative use. The artist composes experientiallygiven raw materials into a rhythmic construction characterized by a cyclical buildup,breakdown, and buildup. The rhythmically compelling work of art--and it is its unique-ly compelling rhythm that makes it creative art--is a sort of self-contained electromag-netic field in which each material particle seems to vibrate in place with ever greaterintensity and poignancy because it concentrates in itself the vibrant energy of everyother material particle in the mesmerized field. In other words, the force of the entirefield seems to converge in every part-icle of it--a vector effect responsible for the senseof exhilaration or fulfillment that Clement Greenberg thought was the experiential “test”of the successful work of art. Used by the viewer’s unconscious, or rather integratedinto her unconscious--or when the viewer’s subjectivity becomes integral to the work’sobjective identity--artistic conductors acquire aura. They overflow their materialboundaries and formal conventions--beyond the limits that officially frame them--untilthey seem to fill psychic space to overflowing. To say this another way, they insistentlydrill into the viewer’s psyche until they reach the depths where her primary creativityexists, allowing its foundational energy to spontaneously gush forth. Some works of artare dry wells--sometimes they come up with nothing--while others are like the rod withwhich Moses struck dead stone, miraculously bringing forth the water of life. Thus thecompelling work profoundly transforms the everyday self by finding unexpectedcreative life in it. The power to reveal the wellspring of life in people who seem to haverun dry--or, if one wants, to awaken the sleeping beauty of creativity entombed in theviewer--is finally what makes the work of art deeply meaningful, that is, perceptuallyconsummate, and with that cognitively and emotionally convincingly. Returning toThe Magnetic Field of Breton and Soupault, one should note that Breton was apsychiatric nurse in World War I, and that he arrived at the idea of the magnetic fieldby identifying with shell shocked soldiers, suggesting that he also felt like one, that is,a victim of the war and more broadly the society that made the war. “I resolved toobtain from myself what we were trying to obtain from them,” he wrote, “namely, amonologue spoken as rapidly as possible without any intervention on the part of thecritical faculties, a monologue consequently unencumbered by the slightest inhibition.”Thus the idea that words spoken automatically, as it were, could be “material for poeticconstruction,” arose from the belief that they had a healing effect, or at least affordedtemporary cathartic relief from oppressive thoughts. Breton’s notion of automaticwriting derives from Pierre Janet’s L’Automatisme psychologique, although it shouldbe noted that automatic writing was practiced by Horace Walpole, Carlo Gozzi, Gérardde Nerval, and Thomas Carlyle, among others, before Breton, as he acknowledged. Butthe difference is that for them it was a means to a creative end whereas for Breton itwas creative in itself. That is, “ease of execution,” as Breton characterized automaticwriting, guaranteed innovation. But the problem was that creativity on automatic pilothad only unconscious meaning, and that meaning depended on analytic acumen andcritical interpretation, that is, on the viewer. And when it was finally deciphered, theeffect of uniqueness achieved by automatic writing turned out to be just that—an effect

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that masked a common emotional situation. Thus, as Mark Polizzotti points out, “Oneof the major motifs in The Magnetic Fields is the theme of being hunted, put underarrest, or endangered.” That is, there is a strong undercurrent of paranoia in the text, orat least an induced sense of threat. To quote from The Magnetic Fields: “You know thatthis evening there’s a green crime to be committed.” “The most magnificent doors arethose behind which someone says, Open up in the name of the law.” “Look at our hands,they are covered with blood.” The other problem that suggests that automatic writing--writing in which one word seemingly magnetically attracts another to itself, resultingin a so-called stream of consciousness or associations--is that without critical control itis socially meaningless however momentarily startling and intellectually puzzling. Thatis, it cleverly brings forth fraudulent concepts, more particularly, it confuses thesensations aroused by each magnetized word with serious thinking. It has more to dowith cleverness, a sort of low level playful or frivolous consciousness, than with

“breakthrough” insight let alone consistently developed thought. In other words, it maybe a speculative--if obscurantist--starting point, but it dead-ends in nihilistic unintelligi-bility disguised as absurdist paradox, and thus is incompletely creative, since it cannotreach the viewer, except by her equally speculative interpretation, which tells us moreabout her unconscious and consciously held ideas than about the so-called work ofautomatic art. Here are some examples of such incoherence--a supposedly “higher”meaninglessness--from The Magnetic Fields. “Prisoners of drops of water, we are butperpetual animals.” “Sweating vertebrate superior cathedrals.” “Stiff stems of Suzanneuselessness above all village of flavors with a lobster church.” “God the Father’s willto grandeur does not in France exceed 4,810 meters’ height above sea level.”

“Temptation to order a new drink: for instance, a plantain demolition.” While interestingas word configurations, some of which are quite comprehensible, taken as a whole theyare not exactly compelling poetic constructions, for they lack the rhythmic appeal ofcyclic buildup, breakdown, and buildup. Without it there is no compelling work of art,indeed, not even a work of art, just the raw material of words and phrases, partiallymeaningful but finally boring and infantile, all the more so because their mesmerizingeffect wears off quickly, at least for the reader. Writing automatically, Breton andSoupault “lived in a state of euphoria, almost in the intoxication of discovery. We feltlike miners who had just struck the mother lode.” They felt “marvelously liberated.”The point of it was in fact to disorder the senses á la Rimbaud, which may have donetheir senses good--if the euphoria of intoxication does more than temporary good, if itis a good--but it is not clear that it did the reader any good, or even had as much anintoxicating effect. Indeed, the ultimate point was narcissistic rather than social. In fact,automatic writing was a defensive regression to the subjective in a society whose claimsto be progressive were undermined by World War I. I am suggesting to you that whileyour magnetic word experiences may do you personal good, they will not necessarilydo good for those who read them. I am suggesting that while they may be creativelystimulating, they are not creatively complete until they make conscious sense to thereader as well as arouse her unconscious feelings and fantasies. I am suggesting thatcreativity involves critical consciousness as well as unconscious stimulation. I amsuggesting that a work of art is compelling when it is a well-constructed rhythm notsimply a random composite of provocative phrases.Note(1)Mark Polizzotti, Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995), 104

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Florida Artist Group Best in ShowRichard W. Rosen, Area VIIGotham VIraku fired clay

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Elizabeth Morse Genius Memorial AwardNancy Sykes Cockerham, Area VLiving in Pleasantvillemixed media

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Ru Israels Memorial AwardJoan Sonnenberg, Area VIITotem Plantainmixed media

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Dorothy Bosco Memorial AwardNat Krate, Area IIITorso IIIoil

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Downing Barnitz Memorial AwardJoan B. Nixon, Area VRenewalmixed media

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Fonchen Lord Memorial AwardDonated by William LordPam Brodersen, Area VIIEvening Lightdigital image

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Richard Dean Andruk Memorial AwardDonated by Marjorie Dean AndrukDaniel Ambrose, Area VIMorning Glowoil

Elizabeth Davis Memorial AwardDonated by Dr. H. Clinton Davis

Carol Frye, Area VNever Alone

collage

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Nancy Stair Karish Memorial AwardDonated by Susan Stair StevensTaylor N. Ikin, Area IVLooking Down Hillwatercolor

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Brooke Allison, Area IVAcademic Among the Weedspastel

AHLIN, Area VGivernyacrylic

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Betty Altman, Area IIIOnce Again In Parismixed media

Emalee Andre, Area IIChance Encounter

acrylic

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Jeffrey Smart Baisden Area VIInterlude 2colored pencil / oil pastel

Maribel Angel, Area VIOne Too Manymixed media

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Barre Barrett, Area VIJoy Shellswatercolor

John Barends, Area IIIMy Dreams Are in Coloracrylic

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Linda Blondheim, Area VIYellow Marshacrylic

Lois Barton, Area IIConclusionacrylic

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Mindy Z. Colton, Area VThe Long Walkbronze

Rose Weber Brown, Area VIIInto the Deep Blue Seaacrylic

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Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow, Area IVAngelic Tree Balletphotographic art

Helen C. Cox, Area VRose Window seriesmixed media

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Gretchen Ebersol, Area VIHieroglyphics for the Heartmixed-altered book

Julee Docking, Area IIISunburnt Modeloil pastel

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Cindy Epps-Smith, Area VAfternoon Gone Byphotoprint / prismacolor

Peppi Elona, Area IIITenting Tonight

paper collage

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Shirley Frank, Area IVLandscape with Tattingmixed media

Cheryl A. Fausel, Area VIISeeing Red!

watercolor

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Gay Germain, Area IIIWorking Space

mixed media

Jamie Friedli, Area IIIUltra Blueacrylic

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Jean Grastorf, Area IVMatsonwatermedia

Jean Germain, Area IIITree By the Light of the Moonphotography

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Carol Grillo, Area IIOne Moment in Timemixed media

Marjorie Greene, Area IVAll The Stars Have Left the Skyoil on canvas

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Fran Henley, Area IIIRhapsody in Bluemixed media

Cecily Hangen, Area IITransformations

acrylic

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Jeri Johnson, Area IVTrain at La Rhuneoil on paper

Julia Hyman, Area IIIDancers In love

maple

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Gregory A. Jones, Area VCan of Brushes #2mixed media

Gail Jones, Area VIICrystal Mysterycrystalline glazed porcelain

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Joan Klutch, Area VIILet's Not Gomixed media

Anne Kittel, Area VIIStill Life With Zinniaswatercolor

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Eydi Lampasona, Area IICanvas Quiltwood/metal/bones/glass/paint

Judy Kramer, Area IIILadies of Fashion 2color photograph

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Joan Lyon, Area IIITraveling Lightlymixed media / monotype

Joan R. Lustig, Area IIAcross the Spectrum Imonotype with chine collé

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Joseph Melancon, Area IIIGreen Dotacrylic collage & objects

Sydney McKenna, Area VILittle Altarsoil

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Jan Miller, Area VIBig Applesacrylic / canvas

Elanor Merritt, Area IIIThree Queens

acrylic on tapa cloth

43

Fred C. Nagel, Area IIISHIRAbronze

Jini Mount, Area IIIFive Minute Curtain Call

oil

44

Joyce Keen Novak, Area IIIMyakka IIIdigital painting

Melissa Miller Nece, Area IVSqually Morningcolored pencil

45

Christine Reichow, Area VIISleeping Beautywatercolor

Beau Redmond, Area VICorner Wall Street-Broad Street NYSEAcrylic-Wall Street Journal

46

Margaret Rigg, Area IVThe Ascentmixed media

Eleanor Ritcher, Area IGeometric Puzzlewatercolor

47

Fern Samuels, Area IIIn the Beginning There Was Dancemixed on wood / mounted on canvas

Sandra Robinson, Area IIIBee Ridge / Beneva SEacrylic

48

Judy Lyons Schneider, Area IIIRamilas 7monotype / mixed media

Betty Savenor, Area IIIKindred Spiritsmonotype / collage

49

Willma Bulkin Siegel, Area IFlowers, Orange & Purple

watercolor & gouache

Roberta Schofield, Area IVSpiritual Alchemyoil / paper

50

Sally Sloan, Area IIINight Mall

mixed media

Jo Sinclair, Area VIA Chair of the Artistmixed media

51

Wendy Tatter, Area VIBike at the Beauty Shopbatik

Sonia Ann Smith, Area IVMillenniumacrylic / collage

52

Douglas H. Teller, Area IIISentinels

watercolor

Chryssie B. Tavrides, Area VFrench Gardenacrylic

53

Rhoda Tritschler, Area IVInterior With Figureacrylic / paper

Trish Thompson, Area VIPrimordial Landformsacrylic / canvas

54

Susan K. Turconi, Area IIIRingling's Dream

acrylic, graphite, transfer

Jean Wagner Troemel, Area VICharlene's Sunglassesalkyd

55

Nancy Turner, Area IIIWomen As Vessels:Loss Of Self

intaglio monoprint

Kas Turner, Area IVDwellingsacrylic / canvas

56

H.D. Yeaw, Area IIA Spiritual Journeywalnut wood

Christina P. Wyatt, Area VIILove Knotoil

57

Olympia Zacchini, Area IIISurrenderfiberglass and oil

Robert York, Area VIIThursday Afternoonacrylic

66

AREA II Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie & Okeechobee Counties Chairman: Cecily Hangen Emalee Andre Lois Barton Carol Grillo Cecily Hangen** E. Robert Hunter*** Eydi Lampasona Joan R. Lustig Fern Samuels Robin Smollar Susan Stair Stevens** Lorrie Willamson Harold Yeaw

AREA III Charlotte, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Highlands, Manatee and Sarasota Counties

Chairman: Judy Lyons Schneider Anne Abgott Betty Altman John W. R. Barends Herman Bek-Gran Phyllis Bek-Gran William Burnett, Jr. Richard E. Capes Jeanne Norman Chase Joan S. Davies Julee Docking Peppi Elona

AREA I Broward, Dade and Monroe Counties Chairman: Anjal Anjal** Nancy Greenberg Juliane Ketcher Eleanor Richter Mari M. Sanchez Wilma Bulkin Siegel Rowena M. Smith Hank Werner

MEMBERSHIP BY AREAS

67

Jamie Friedli Gay Germain Jean Germain Foster Harmon** Barbara Harrison Fran Henley Julia Hyman Judy Kramer Nat Krate Lee B. Lasbury** Joan Lyon Joseph Melancon Eleanor Merritt Jini Mount Fred C. Nagel Leroy W. Nichols, Jr. Joyce Novak** Melody Oxarart Sandra Robinson Betty Carmell Savenor Judy Lyons Schneider Sally Sloan Jerome Sobel Douglas H. Teller Lois Bartlett Tracy* Susan K. Turconi Nancy Turner Olympia Zacchini

AREA IV Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Sumter and Citrus Counties Chairman:Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow Brooke Allison Marjorie Dean Andruk** Mary Alice Braukman Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow Margaret Cornish DeBarba Marjorie C. Armston Dimmitt Shirley Frank Jean H. Grastorf Muriel E. Green Marjorie Greene Mamie Harrison** Taylor N. Ikin

68

Jeri Johnson Melissa Miller Nece Margaret R. Rigg Roberta Schofield Rebecca Skelton Sonia Ann Smith Rhoda Tritschler Kas Turner

AREA V Indian River, Brevard, Osceola, Orange, Seminole, Polk, and Lake Counties Chairman: Mindy Z. Colton AHLIN** Nancy Sykes Cockerham Mindy Z. Colton Penny Cosentino Helen C. Cox Cynthia J. Epps-Smith Carol Frye Gregory Andrew Jones Joan B. Nixon Claire L. Reese Chryssie B. Tavrides

AREA VI Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns, Duval, Nassau, Clay, Putman, Marion, Alachua, Bradford, Union, Baker, Columbia, Gilchrist, Levy, Dixie, LaFayette, Suwanee, Hamilton, Madison and Taylor Counties Chairman: Sydney McKenna Daniel Ambrose Maribel Angel Jeffrey Smart Baisden Barre Barrett Linda K. Blondheim Gretchen Ebersol Heidi Edwards Sydney McKenna Fred Messersmith*** Jan Miller Pat Nolan Beau Redmond Jo Sinclair Wendy Tatter Sam Dee Thomas

69

Trish Thompson Jean Wagner Troemel**

AREA VII Hendry, Lee and Collier Counties Chairman: Joan Furia Klutch Lee Ackert Janis M. Balabon Pamela Brodersen Rose Weber Brown Patrice Burkhardt Peg Cullen Cheryl A. Fausel Gail Jones Mary C. Keogh-Stringer Anne Kittel Joan Furia Klutch Pat Eng La Vigne Marilyn Niederman Christine Reichow Richard W. Rosen Christine Scott Joan B. Sonnenberg Christina P. Wyatt Robert L. York**

70

Appleton Museum of ArtRobin M. McClea, DirectorPO Box 3190Ocala, FL 34478-3190(352) 291-4455

Armory Art CenterThérèse Shehan, Exec.1700 Parker AvenueWest Palm Beach, FL 33401(561) 832-1776

The Arts Center at St. PetersburgEvelyn Craft, Director719 Central AvenueSt. Petersburg, FL 33701(727) 822-7872

Art Center SarasotaFayane Hayes, Exec. Director707 North Tamiami TrailSarasota, FL 34236(941) 365-2032www.artsarasota.org

ArtServe Inc.Maureen Kohler, Director1350 East Sunrise Blvd.Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304(954) 828-9127

The Bass Museum of Art2121 Park AvenueMiami Beach, FL 33139(305) 673-7530

Boca Raton Museum of ArtGeorge Bolge, Director501 Plaza RealBoca Raton, FL 33432(561) 392-2500(561) 391-610

Brevard Museum ofArt and ScienceKarl Hollander, President1463 Highland AvenueMelbourne, FL 32936(321) 242-0737

Cornell Fine Arts MuseumRollins CollegeLuanne McKinnon, Director1000 Holt Avenue Winter Park, FL 32789(407) 646-2526

Cornell MuseumOld School SquareGloria Adams, Director51 North Swinton AvenueDelray Beach, FL 33444-2631(561) 243-7922

Daytona Beach MuseumOf Arts and SciencesWayne Atherholt, Exec. Director1040 Museum Blvd.Daytona Beach, FL 32014(386) 255-0285

Edison Community CollegeGallery of Fine ArtBob Rauschenberg GalleryRon Bishop, Director8099 College ParkwayFt. Myers, FL 33906-6210(239) 489-9300

Florida Gulf Coast UniversityScott Snyder, Gallery Director10501 FGCU Blvd SouthFt. Myers, FL 33965-6565(239) 590-1000

FLORIDA HONORARY MEMBERSHIPS

71

Ft. Lauderdale Museum of ArtIrvin Lippman, Exec. DirectorOne East Las Olas Blvd.Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301(954) 525-5500Harn Museum of ArtUniversity of FloridaDr. Rebecca M. Nagy, DirectorPO Box 112770Gainesville, FL 32611-2088(352( 392-9826

Museum of ContemporaryArt JacksonvilleGeorge Kinghorn, Exec. Dir.333 North Laura StreetJacksonville, FL 32202(904) 366-6911

The Longboat KeyCenter for the Arts6860 Longboat Drive SouthLongboat Key, FL 34228(941) 383-2345

Maitland Art CenterJames G. Shepp, Director231 West Packwood AveMaitland, FL 32751(407) 539-2181

Melvin Art GalleryFlorida Southern CollegeHolly Murkerson, DirectorFlorida Southern CollegeLakeland, FL 33801(863) 680-4390

Polk Museum of ArtDaniel E. Stetson; Director800 East Palmetto StreetLakeland, FL 33801(863) 688-773

Ridge Art Association, Inc.Christy Hemenway,Exec. Director210 Cypress Gardens Blvd.Winter Haven, FL 33880(863) 291-5661

Scarfone/Hartley GalleryUniversity of TampaDorothy Cowden, Director401 West Kennedy Blvd.Tampa, FL 33606(813) 253-6214

St. Augustine Art AssociationPam Pahl, President22 Marine StreetSt. Augustine, FL 32084(904) 824-2310start@bellsouth.net

St. Petersburg Museumof Fine ArtDr. John E. Schloder, Director255 Beach Drive NESt. Petersburg, FL 33701(727) 896-2667

Tampa Museum of ArtKen Rollins, Interim Director600 North Ashley DriveTampa, FL 33602(813) 274-8130

Vero Beach Museum of ArtLucinda Gideon, Director3001 Riverside Park DriveVero Beach, FL 32963(772) 231-0707

Venice Art CenterMarilyn LaBallisper, Director390 Nokomis Avenue SouthVenice, FL 34285(941) 485-7136