Astrid Notte’s neurographica painting, Surrounded by Light, transcribes neural pathways into a work of art.
Astrid Notte’s art often expresses her spiritual connection to nature. She is well known for her impressionistic representations of coniferous trees. That connection was forged in her earliest years, Notte says.
Born in Berlin during the Second World War, she remembers fleeing into an underground bunker to escape the quaking and thunder of Allied bombing raids. She also remembers a magical arboreal encounter. “There was a time when Mother was able to take me to an area where there were trees, and I can still remember. I must have been four years old, and that really had a profound effect.”
Her art recalls and records experiences of communing with the forests. “It just happens. I paint a tree and the tree tells me what to do. It’s intuitive,” Notte said. “It’s a connection. It’s very difficult to say and explain, but to paint, it’s easier.”
More recently she has been inspired by a method called neurographica. Developed by Russian philosopher and psychologist Pavel Piskarev in 2014, neurographica connects the artist’s strokes to neural pathways. Criss-crossing lines are drawn meditatively on her canvases. Notte then rounds and ‘smooths’ the intersecting corners and paints what she sees outlined in the bounding shapes. The result is reminiscent of stained glass.
She likens the process to Feng Shui, a Japanese method of drawing—and living—that arranges buildings, objects, and space in an environment to harmonize with spiritual forces and achieve balance and prosperity.
Notte took up the technique after a serious car accident in 2022 made it difficult for her to paint in her accustomed styles. The process helps reduce chronic pain, but for Notte it also became an art form in and for itself.
“This helped me continue painting,” she said. “It can be very abstract but with me, I need to have it represent something.” Brilliant immersive works like Beneath the Waves have emerged from these neurographical patterns.
Notte’s On Nature’s Stage show will be on display at Rainforest Arts from Aug. 5 to Sept. 27. She will hold neurographica demonstrations Aug. 9, 12 to 2 p.m. and Sept. 6, 1 to 3 p.m. The gallery, located at 9781 Willow Street in Chemainus, is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information at RainforestArts.ca.
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