Alumni Spotlight: John Ollom

John Ollom (MFA-IA ’14) has been the Artistic Director of Ollom Art/Prismatic Productions Inc since its inception in 2003. John is the creator of Internal Landscapes methodology which he refined during his time at Goddard. His methodology speaks to helping people find their most authentic expressions via drawing and writing and movement exploration. John will be bringing his methodology back to Goddard this year as the Creative Workshop keynote speaker during the 2021 Goddard Alumni weekend, presenting his workshop “Internal Landscapes: Moving Into Authentic Expressions.”

We talked to John in-depth about dance, trauma, darkness, and how he journeys with his clients to move through and out of the shadow places. He works deeply with archetypes, imagery and nature, “When someone has trauma, words don’t really connote the experience.” John currently teaches private sessions using the Internal Landscapes methodology on Zoom. Book now at: www.johnollom.com.

John is also deeply committed to creating community and lifting up artists, which he does through the Haus of Ollom. The Haus of Ollom is a multidisciplinary online gallery and community showcasing art, cooking recipes, poetry, workshops, Tarot instruction and memorial for those who have died of Covid. From John, “It came out of the house tradition in Harlem which was in the 80s when a lot of gay people were being kicked out of families for being gay or trans or bi or queer. And a lot of gay people would make these balls and dress up and have events. And they would have mother in the Haus and the mother would take care of them and kind of support them because they didn’t have mothers. And I think out of my own pain from own family of origin I created my own family of choice. I had someone sent to me from North Dakota…we call him Madame Jay because working with me came out as a drag queen, and he kept calling me mother. And it stuck because I was giving them a house, I was giving them a home.” To view John’s new video book Dark Matter and other rooms in the Haus of Ollom visit www.ollomart.com. 

Recommendations:

Books:

Sylvia Brinton Perera:

•     Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women.
•     The Scapegoat Complex: Toward a Mythology of Shadow and Guilt.
•     Celtic Queen Maeve and Addiction. An Archetypal Perspective.

Leonard Shlain, The Alphabet versus the Goddess