Deconstructing Tarot: The discovery of my own personal ascension through a reinterpretation of the Major Arcana cards
Lacey Costantine
This thesis by Lacey Costantine was conducted as a part of Pratt ADE's capstone class, Curating Learning.
Curating Learning showcases the work of ADE seniors at the culmination of the program as they curate their experiences as artists, cultural producers, and learners. The research projects and related artworks created, emphasize student interdisciplinary connections and reflections on how knowledge is constructed and facilitated through teaching, learning, and curating.
Students integrate theory and practice through reflection and research in the field of art and design education. Students develop their voices as emerging professionals as they synthesize their learning in studio, liberal arts, art and design education, and pre-service teaching as well as co-curricular experiences in both formal and informal settings. Working across media and informed by their own research they created projects that ultimately highlight their perspective on integrating their learning across the studio, classroom, and community.
Curating Learning showcases the work of ADE seniors at the culmination of the program as they curate their experiences as artists, cultural producers, and learners. The research projects and related artworks created, emphasize student interdisciplinary connections and reflections on how knowledge is constructed and facilitated through teaching, learning, and curating.
Students integrate theory and practice through reflection and research in the field of art and design education. Students develop their voices as emerging professionals as they synthesize their learning in studio, liberal arts, art and design education, and pre-service teaching as well as co-curricular experiences in both formal and informal settings. Working across media and informed by their own research they created projects that ultimately highlight their perspective on integrating their learning across the studio, classroom, and community.
Artist Statement
Deconstructing Tarot: The discovery of my own personal ascension through a reinterpretation of the Major Arcana cards
In this art based self-study, I explore Tarot as a framework for personal symbolism and meaning-making. Tarot is known for its deep meaningful symbolism, almost every image, number, and figure on a card has a purpose and meaning behind it. Tarot is often seen as universal symbols where everyone who learns about them can use them as important indicators to interpret the past, present and future through the symbols on the cards. But, what if someone created a deck that had symbols based on their own personal experiences? Anyone could find some meaning to those symbols, but that deck is especially personal to the creator of that deck.
I wanted to explore this, by researching and creating my own version of tarot cards.
The main research question and subquestions guiding this study were: How can tarot cards inspire personal meaning making and symbolism in contemporary art practice? How does the process of creating icons and symbols for the creator come into play with contemporary art? How can creating my own tarot cards help me to explore what symbols mean to me through my own experiences? How can tarot cards be used by an art educator to teach symbolism in the k-12 classroom? Through reinterpreting 22 Arcana cards, I took a deep look into my own subconscious. Why do I think about certain images or symbols when seeing a specific image or reading a certain word? Ultimately, this study looked at symbolism and self- exploration through the deconstruction and reinterpretation of Tarot Cards. I wanted to understand how this process and framework relates to my own artwork, contemporary art, and K-12 pedagogy.
In the creation of my own deck, I have almost formed a book of my life experiences to be flipped through and laid out. Through the ritualistic process of making my own schedule and organizing my time, I have made my own ritual with tarot cards. This was something that I had never done in my own practice, I do not usually journal or schedule my artwork. This helped me to accomplish my art work and kept me focused on the task at hand. Another important finding was the discovery of futurism in my own cards, through exploring my past I came to think about the future. Most people use tarot cards to find out the future, for me it was more of a realization and an acceptance of how our identity is not solid but fluid. It is something that changes and ultimately changes us in the process, and our own personal symbols. Contemporary artists have touched on this, many of the artists making their own tarot deck, changing the typical images seen on tarot cards. Often they work on images that resonate with them, however unlike mine they make these cards to sell, or for others to use. My deck is for my own use and view, not for anyone else. Tarot is something that not many think of when they imagine pedagogy, however through this project I have made connections to teaching and specifically, teaching symbolism. I have made the discovery through my journaling, the importance of setting time for mediating and reflecting. With my journaling I was able to make connections to my own personal experiences and symbols. I was able to break down my thoughts in a concise and clear way that later helped me in explaining my decisions and in articulating thoughts on my own art. By having this ritualistic schedule I was able to create a mental space for me to fully journal and formulate any thoughts. This scheduled reflection is crucial for this activity as reflection is something that does not usually occur intentionally in my spontaneous practice.
This idea is something that is not always taught at schools, however I think that it would assist students in being able to express themselves and their artwork. The discovery of the this came from the refection part of my project. I remembered struggling to make personal meaning making with my own work as a student in middle school and high school. However if students were given the opportunity to reflect on their work and process their art they may have better time to understand themselves as people and artists.
In this art based self-study, I explore Tarot as a framework for personal symbolism and meaning-making. Tarot is known for its deep meaningful symbolism, almost every image, number, and figure on a card has a purpose and meaning behind it. Tarot is often seen as universal symbols where everyone who learns about them can use them as important indicators to interpret the past, present and future through the symbols on the cards. But, what if someone created a deck that had symbols based on their own personal experiences? Anyone could find some meaning to those symbols, but that deck is especially personal to the creator of that deck.
I wanted to explore this, by researching and creating my own version of tarot cards.
The main research question and subquestions guiding this study were: How can tarot cards inspire personal meaning making and symbolism in contemporary art practice? How does the process of creating icons and symbols for the creator come into play with contemporary art? How can creating my own tarot cards help me to explore what symbols mean to me through my own experiences? How can tarot cards be used by an art educator to teach symbolism in the k-12 classroom? Through reinterpreting 22 Arcana cards, I took a deep look into my own subconscious. Why do I think about certain images or symbols when seeing a specific image or reading a certain word? Ultimately, this study looked at symbolism and self- exploration through the deconstruction and reinterpretation of Tarot Cards. I wanted to understand how this process and framework relates to my own artwork, contemporary art, and K-12 pedagogy.
In the creation of my own deck, I have almost formed a book of my life experiences to be flipped through and laid out. Through the ritualistic process of making my own schedule and organizing my time, I have made my own ritual with tarot cards. This was something that I had never done in my own practice, I do not usually journal or schedule my artwork. This helped me to accomplish my art work and kept me focused on the task at hand. Another important finding was the discovery of futurism in my own cards, through exploring my past I came to think about the future. Most people use tarot cards to find out the future, for me it was more of a realization and an acceptance of how our identity is not solid but fluid. It is something that changes and ultimately changes us in the process, and our own personal symbols. Contemporary artists have touched on this, many of the artists making their own tarot deck, changing the typical images seen on tarot cards. Often they work on images that resonate with them, however unlike mine they make these cards to sell, or for others to use. My deck is for my own use and view, not for anyone else. Tarot is something that not many think of when they imagine pedagogy, however through this project I have made connections to teaching and specifically, teaching symbolism. I have made the discovery through my journaling, the importance of setting time for mediating and reflecting. With my journaling I was able to make connections to my own personal experiences and symbols. I was able to break down my thoughts in a concise and clear way that later helped me in explaining my decisions and in articulating thoughts on my own art. By having this ritualistic schedule I was able to create a mental space for me to fully journal and formulate any thoughts. This scheduled reflection is crucial for this activity as reflection is something that does not usually occur intentionally in my spontaneous practice.
This idea is something that is not always taught at schools, however I think that it would assist students in being able to express themselves and their artwork. The discovery of the this came from the refection part of my project. I remembered struggling to make personal meaning making with my own work as a student in middle school and high school. However if students were given the opportunity to reflect on their work and process their art they may have better time to understand themselves as people and artists.