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who witnesses to being that which is witnessed. So who does the witnessing? The medium, here, paint, does that work. The medium has captured the original subject and suffused the artist with it. As the artist makes his decisions and speaks his mind, the medium diligently records. Where is the subject at this point? The subject takes the place of the medium. In other words, the subject now combines all the elements. Thus, during the middle of the creative process, this incredible shift occurs. What to take from my story here is that the artist moves from being an artist to being the subject of his work. He must do this. Every artist must make this shift. If you don't do this, the art will lack self-expression, and self-expression has to be part of the art.

So then what happens? You know I'm going to tell you. Another shift, the final shift in this cycle, occurs. At a certain point, the artist has to stop being the subject of the work. You probably already kind of figured that out I bet. Alright, so the artist has to go through one more permutation, one more transformation, one more shift And here we come back to the point of this article, or piece of writing, or whatever you want to call it. The artist must become the medium. That's right. The artist must become a channel. He must let go, cease to be the center of attention, and flow the art. What happens to the original subject? Let us recall that, in the first shift, the original subject became the medium. The original subject opened up to that level of selflessness. It became a speaker for the paint and for the artist and for itself. During this time, the medium paint on canvas, in my example was the visionary, what guided the work. The medium took on the role of the artist. So now, in the last shift, where the artist is the channel, the subject becomes what guides the work. The subject is the visionary. Those who master their craft understand how the subject can work in this way. All you have to do is find a decent subject, and, eventually, the subject directs the art. That doesn't happen at first. If you try to get this kind of visionary power out of a subject without first expressing yourself, you are doomed. You won't achieve art. First you have to dialog with the subject. Only then can the subject turn around and direct the entire process.

The medium ultimately becomes the subject of the art: McLuhan's "medium is the message." Yes. That's right. In the final step in a creative cycle, the medium becomes

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