Metaphorming
Life: The Work of A.R.T.
Realizing human potential. That’s my life’s work. Those three
words sum up everything I live for and aspire to accomplish through my
art.
For me, A.R.T. is All
Representations of Thought:
from the poetic gestures of dancers to the abstract symbolic models of
chemists; from back-of-the-envelop idea doodles to rigorous proofs by
pure mathematicians; from the Aha! we spontaneously utter at a moment
of breakthrough thinking to the technological marvels we create in collaboratively
harnessing our creative genius; from our silent inner reflections on life
to our tangible responses to all the things nature shares with us every
second of everyday that challenge our senses and rev our imagination.
Since childhood, my art has been one curious adventure in exploring the
nature of the human mind to glean how we create, learn, invent, collaborate
and communicate.
At the core of all my work is Metaphorming. Nearly three decades ago,
I coined the words Metaphorm and Metaphorming to describe these ageless
communication tools that everyone can use to realize their creative potential.
They’re “engines” of creativity, invention, learning,
and discovery that power our communications.
Metaphorming is derived from the Greek words meta which means “between,”
“after,” “beyond,” “transcending,”
and phora, or “transference.” Metaphorming enables us all
to move beyond the constraints of verbal thought, transferring from one
object to another a new meaning or set of associations.
I refer to my works of art as Metaphorms. These embody visual metaphors,
physical analogies, signs, symbols, stories, allegories, puns, premises,
and much more.
Metaphorming is the act of connecting Metaphorms to stimulate breakthroughs
and discoveries, and to generate inventions and innovations. It increases
the meaning and usefulness of all information, ideas, knowledge, experience,
and wisdom.
Metaphorming is the essence of what our minds do when we are “thinking
differently”; when we’re searching for personal meaning and
purpose; when we’re seeing beauty and seeking truth; when we’re
enjoying the complexity of nature, and exploring the nature of complexity.
To understand the world of Metaphorms and Metaphorming is to see beyond
the categorization and compartmentalization of our acts of creating and
our creations. It is to continually transform the meanings and uses of
things and ideas by connecting and applying them in new contexts and situations.
Recall the mantra of the 20th century polymath and Renaissance thinker,
R. Buckminster Fuller, and novelist E.M. Foster: “Only connect.”
Leonardo da Vinci may have said it even simpler: Metaphorm it!
Know the thought through which all things are steered through all things.
Heraclitus, Greek philosopher and mystic, 500 B.C.
Don’t just know “the thought.” Metaphorm
it!
Todd Siler
