Pattern Recognition: Allowing Nature to Inform Behavior Patterns

photo by raven bartlett

“We have been trained to think of patterns, with the exception of those of music, as fixed affairs. It is easier and lazier that way but, of course, all nonsense. In truth, the right way to begin to think about the pattern which connects is to think of it as primarily (whatever that means) a dance of interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which organisms characteristically impose.” - Bateson

I love this quote! In my undergrad I took a class on patterns and it asked me to look at what I consider “pattern” in a completely new light. I have recently been able to more deeply think on things discussed in the class, and have developed a fascination with patterns, especially in the natural world - growth, behavioral, erosion, relationship etc. patterns of plants, animals, and inanimate objects. When I gave myself time and space to watch the life cycle of a bean plant, or bubbles spinning, popping and adapting to the current of a lazy river, or golden leaves tumbling through the air with the breeze, I began to see how intricate these patterns are, and how much we can learn from them. Such a reflection of the intricacy of self, relationship to others, and society! I have been inspired to create a new series of paintings exploring pattern in the most alive sense of the word.