Georgia O'Keeffe's Change Model

 Author: Joshua Kerievsky
Updated: March 12, 1999

Lake George, 1922

In Portrait Of An Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, Laurie Lisle wrote:

She knew, as well, that to be the artist whom Stieglitz had unleashed and nurtured, it was essential constantly to probe, explore, and expand her consciousness to the edges of her imagination. "Making your unknown known is the important thing--and keeping the unknown always beyond you--catching-crystalizing your simpler clearer vision of life--only to see it turn stale compared to what you vaguely feel ahead--that you must always keep working to grasp--" she wrote to Sherwood Anderson. She tended to enjoy her own paintings very much right after finishing them, but then the feeling of pleasure used to wear off and she was impelled to look ahead again.

Continually transforming herself and her art undoubtedly contributed to Georgia's stunning life and career. Her cycle of change exemplifies the Virginia Satir Change Model, which I experienced in an inspired workshop in New Mexico, not too far from where Georgia lived and worked. This model, as described by Jerry Weinberg, consists of the following four stages:

• Late Status Quo (or Old Satus Quo, as it is called when it is very late)
• Chaos
• Integration and Practice (or sometimes just Intergration, for short)
• New Status Quo