Meet Chrissy Stuart | Depth Psychologist | Holographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chrissy Stuart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chrissy, how do you think about risk?
To take a risk is to encounter the unknown. I see risk as a necessary tool for psychological expansion and creative growth.

From a psychological perspective, the unknown is the realm of the unconscious — the wellspring of our creativity. Creativity requires a relationship with the unknown and therefore involves risk-taking. When we consciously engage with the unknown and the unconscious, we begin to move from an ambiguous, stagnant place of uncertainty, doubt, and fear into a deeper state of creative flow, authenticity, self-knowing, wholeness, and empowerment. True creativity emerges when we merge the conscious, known parts of ourselves with the unconscious, hidden aspects of self. Radical transformation and creative breakthroughs occur in this experience of integrating our ego-consciousness with the unconscious psyche.

I frequently engage in this practice of risk-taking and embracing the unknown in my depth psychology and creativity work with clients through One Set Closer and Atrium Creative, and in my own artistic practice of working with elemental light through holography and glass sculpture. One Set Closer and Atrium Creative both serve as containers for the deeply fulfilling work I do of helping others to cultivate a rich connection to their creativity by working with the unconscious psyche — the ultimate source of our creativity.

For me, learning to embrace the unknown grew out of my encounters with death: the death of my only sibling, and the death of nature — specifically, the wildfires of Southern California. Death is the epitome of the mysterious, dark unknown. For me, taking risks and embracing the unknown is a daily mindfulness practice of staying present with what’s unfolding, experimenting, letting go of control, sitting with discomfort, and allowing the creative unconscious to lead.

Change, uncertainty, and the unknown tends to produce anxiety, fear, and confusion — often tied to feelings of risk. The Ego is not a fan of change or risk because it undermines its security, its predictability and its capacity for control. When we truly learn to embrace the oftentimes risky, unfamiliar territory of the unknown, we can begin to let go of our illusions of ego-control, and genuinely explore our deepest desires, fears, values and identities. This process reconnects us to our imaginal intelligence and creativity, inner wisdom, intuition, and a deep sense of purpose and meaning. This unknown domain of the unconscious psyche is where our creative power lies.

Engaging with the unconscious and cultivating a relationship with the unknown is integral to my life and creative work. In fostering a connection with the objective psyche, I am forced to acknowledge my limitations as a human being, and to embrace the mystery of what we cannot see or know for certain. My creative praxis in holography, glass sculpture, and psychology has repeatedly revealed that consciousness is alchemized through encounters with the dark unknown.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I see the depth psychology and creativity work I do with clients through One Set Closer as equally creative as the artistic work I do in my holography and glass sculpture praxis. I am fascinated by our relationship to creativity and the unconscious; all of my work explores its impact on our lives, experiences, and identity.

I have always been drawn to creative energy, environments, and people in both my professional and personal lives, but it wasn’t until I had my first experience with tragic loss that I began to truly understand just how healing creativity is, and the profound sense of meaning and purpose that emerges when working with the unconscious. After my only sibling died, I took 6 months off from a 15+ year career in the music industry to navigate my descent into grief. It was hard for me to step away, but I needed to do it, and during this profound time of transformation I began studying and researching psychology, creativity, and inspiration, and ultimately obtained an M.A. specializing in these fields. This deeply fulfilling and generative experience unexpectedly opened a door for me to do all this work with clients in psychology and creativity through my private practice, One Set Closer, and in the mental health and arts space through Atrium Creative — a creative arts and wellness organization for musicians, creatives, and industry professionals that I co-founded with my dear friend and former music industry colleague Julia Willinger. During this period of grief, I also found myself watercoloring on my outside deck in Los Feliz whenever I wasn’t working. I created hundreds of watercolor paintings over several months. Looking back, I realize it was the only space at the time where I could safely be present in my experience of death. Through this creative practice, I became enchanted with the manipulation of color and water, and eventually with light itself.

After a series of bizarre encounters with various forms of light, I began working with material light as my artistic medium through holography and glass sculpture. Creatively exploring light through holographic light recordings and glass casting has provided me with a much needed, more tangible experience of working with the unconscious, which paralleled and counterbalanced my depth psychology studies and research. Through the holographic process of recording light waves (not ordinarily visible to the human eye) onto glass, brilliant patterns of light are revealed and made visible. With the art of holography, one can observe a three-dimensional moment in time of colorful light waves – normally invisible to the naked eye, yet happening around us all the time.

Working with light and its mysterious properties and nature has encouraged me to cultivate a relationship to the mysterious unknown and the invisible dimension of experience: what we can’t see and what we don’t know. For me, light waves are an expression of the same “beyond” that the unconscious and the reality of death invokes. I have come to understand that the holographic concepts of the mind tied to quantum theory and neuroscience research suggest that light, the mind, and nature all share the same ambiguous properties: all consisting of wave phenomena. My work with material light inhabits the edges of what we know and the unknowable, what we can see and the unseen. My client work in depth psychology and creativity through One Set Closer, and my creative explorations of material light in my holography and glass sculpture work have crystallized into my commitment to the unknown, and to the creative unconscious psyche.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely start out the day with surfing in Malibu, then grab a bite at the Old Place – an early 1900s post office in the Santa Monica Mountains that I love with a Wild West feel that reminds me of growing up in Texas. I love sharing the awe-inspiring architecture of Los Angeles and Southern California with friends, so afterwards, I would lead my own little tour of favorite architectural spaces by Neutra, Schindler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lautner, Kappe, Greene and Greene, and others. I would make a pit stop to fuel up on espresso and the best pastries in LA at Artisanal Goods by CAR in Pasadena, then catch the last light of the day with a sunset hike at one of my favorite trails that follows a stream near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Sushi for dinner at my long-time favorite, Asanebo, and then depending on the time of year and current celestial events, I would head up to Mt. Wilson Observatory in the Angeles National Forest for some night sky viewing, and an astronomy lecture or concert inside the dome if we’re lucky.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shout-out to Barry Lopez’s Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven. The desert played a transformative role in my creative life, and was a catalyst for my interest in holography and working with material light. It’s also where I began my depth psychology and creativity studies, and started seeing clients to help them cultivate a relationship with their creativity by working with the unconscious psyche.

Similar to the nature of the unconscious and the unknown, Lopez acknowledges that the desert is a place of mystery, transformation, and profound spiritual resonance. Desert Notes illustrates how the desert is not just a physical setting, but also a symbolic and psychological landscape where the way we perceive time, self, and the world changes. One of my favorite passages of the book perfectly summarizes the transformative and healing power of the desert landscape: “The desert does not change you; it reveals you. Like water poured over a stone, it smooths the rough edges to show the shape underneath.”

I have learned some of life’s toughest lessons in the desert, it has been a wonderful teacher for me. Endless gratitude to otherworldly desert landscapes.

Website: https://www.onesetcloser.com

Instagram: @cbstuart

Other: https://www.chrissystuart.com