No blue skies allowed

Yesterday I attended an all day workshop on how to loosen up your painting technique.

We were a group of about 15 people at various levels of ability under the instruction of Antje Sonneschein, a German artist living in Holland. Below is a painting of hers. Here is a video of one of her workshops, in Dutch, but you get an idea of the work and atmosphere.

The Red Farm by Antje Sonneschein. Image from Kunst.nu

Her style is reminiscent of the  (founded in 1918) Groningen Expressionistic group called ‘de Ploeg’ which means ‘The Plow’. They used bold forms and bright colours to paint the Groningen countryside and villages. See below, a painting by de Ploeg artist Jan Altink.

Painting by Jan Altink. From the site of JBalvers .

In the morning we selected a landscape photo to work from.

We could do anything we wanted- with one stipulation, we were forbidden to paint the sky blue.

The reason for this was that the sky determines the coloring for the whole painting, so by choosing an alternative color for the sky, you immediately are thrown into a different palette than your familiar one.

First, we made a charcoal sketch on a small piece of matte board, already making decisions about what to leave out, change or add to make a better composition.

Then we went to work, over the charcoal, in acrylics with a relatively large brush and quickly mapped in the colors. We had 20 minutes from start to finish including the sketch. This resulted in the most spontaneous work of the day. Here is mine.

The photo I selected is fairly close to this. I liked the flowing landscape, the road, and the grouping of trees on the right. The yellow is a mass of dandelions which made a very troublesome foreground, and I chose that as a challenge.

Then we started on a large version of our painting. About 18 x 24″ on a thin piece of MDF board coated with a thin layer of neutral grey. We sketched in our composition with white pastel and went to work with thin paint and a large brush.

I liked this underpainting so much for its rhythm and confidence (sound familiar?), I didn’t want to ruin it so I started another one. (We worked from background to foreground, so the trees will be added later).

Underpainting

My epiphany for the day was when I asked the instructor how to progress from the underpainting and keep the same freedom. Whereby she came along, and with my permission, took an inch wide brush, a huge glob of white paint and some ochre, and in a few quick strokes, painted in the sky.

It is difficult to describe my reaction.

Dreams and goals 2: what happens when your dreams start to be realized?

So what happens when your long held dreams start to be realized?

You find out what you really want to create in your life by how you feel when it appears. Some intents and desires are ego wants. Getting them supplies a short-lived satisfaction before the next object of desire presents itself. And the whole frustrating process starts again.

But when your goal or wish is truly aligned to your heart’s direction or life path, when it starts to materialize, the joy and opportunity begin to multiply. One fulfilled goal simply prepares the way for the next series of related goals and thing start building up a momentum of well being and a sense of being perfectly on track; in ‘flow’ you could say.   

Example: a long-held dream of mine, to give creativity courses in which people experience and learn to harness the healing and transformative power of art, recently was set into motion.
Aafke believed in me and with Martine, got the whole thing rolling. They organize, cook, network and cheer the whole thing into being.  We’ve started gently with exploration of materials, a few self-reflection exercises, and gradually, the workshops are growing naturally toward my original goal. We are giving the third one next month and there are plans for more. Not only one dream has been met with these workshops, but my desire for more collaboration has also happened. I’m no longer doing it all by myself. So far, we are a good, harmonious team and we are all growing through organising these days. Not to mention the people who have been touched by participating.  During the last workshop, one woman recently found the courage to follow her own creative dream and has begun her own catering business. So it keeps rippling out.

That ‘s how you know if your dreams are aligned to your soul purpose, they don’t quickly bloom, peak, and die; they are more like seeds in fertile ground which if you nurture them,  go on  bearing sweet fruit. And more often than not, they benefit others as well as yourself.

People in transition

Today a friend and I decided to embark on an adventure together.  She is at a crossroads and I have the time, a quiet sunny space and vested interest in seeing her shine.  So we are going to get together regularly and do creative discovery exercises until she finds what her heart wants to tell her.

People in transition are so beautiful. They have taken the risk to let go of whatever wasn’t nourishing them, even if it was safe, and they have leapt without any assurance that there will be a net there to catch them.  Their identity is in shreds, especially if they identified with their former activities, they are vulnerable, a little lost and therefore wide open.  Whenever I get the chance to work with someone in this chaotic period, it feels like a present has just been delivered into my lap.  Because this is what makes me light up— seeing the creative potential in people, often before they do, and accompanying them through the dark period that comes before they start believing in themselves again.  This work is what I have always been moving toward, so my new companion on this journey has no idea how much she is giving me by letting me do what I’m good at and love to do.

And of course, now I am grateful for the years here where I too felt lost and like a failure because I wasn’t listening to my own heart, and as a result nothing I did led to structural income generation or lasting fulfillment. Through those lonely years, though, I gained the tools to help myself;  and now they can be applied to others in the same situation.

Artists Who Care Interview #1 Miriam Rankin part I

Receiving the New York City Art Teachers Award

I’ve been wanting to feature different artists, who are using their creativity to heal, transform, or otherwise improve the world.
Miriam Rankin is the first artist in this new feature, Artists Who Care. If you know someone whose story would fit here, please let me know.

I met Miriam  8 years ago through my online artists support group. I later visited her for several days in her Brooklyn home where she and her family graciously received me.

In our group she is a highly inspiring voice. She is pragmatic as well as creative, which is probably why she has achieved so much. When I got to know her, she was working plus going to school 7 days a week to finish up her masters 31 years (after graduating with a B.A. in 1972).

4 short years later, she received the Art Teacher of the Year award from the New York City’s art teachers union.

In conversations about art, Miriam would often express a yearning to practice her own art more. But what is our ‘own’ art? Instead of making paintings in a studio,  she has used her creativity in a highly effective manner to improve the lives of thousands of children.

Here is her story:

Miriam, please tell us something about your background
I’ve designed appliqués and embroidery for a well known children’s clothing firm, designed and built costumes for a college theater group, painted murals and furniture, made beaded jewelry and funky laminated pins, been a teaching artist for seniors and young children through various art organizations, and my most creative job of all- I’ve raised three children who all are artists themselves. 

Once my children were grown, I became a teacher I suppose because I was “genetically” programmed to be one. 

 
What was the situation like when you first took the position of art cluster teacher at your school?

Ten years ago, the art cluster position was basically babysitting for students while the classroom teacher got a break. 

I worked out of a closet, I didn’t have my own room or even a cart to carry supplies.  I had an impossible schedule, seeing 25 classes weekly- that’s about 600 students and I had a limited time I could spend with each class! 

 
What were your own wishes and dreams for these kids?

Most of the students in my school are new immigrants and come from low income families where most commonly both parents work and struggle;  many are unable to speak or understand English. 

We also have a large special education population, children with learning frustrations and self-image problems. 

I wanted to immerse these students in art- not just visual art but all the creative arts.  I wanted them to feel the power of it and learn by being motivated by it. 

  ….and how did you begin to realize those dreams?

Besides teaching art, I was given the title “Project Arts Coordinator”.  
It was a vaguely defined position with no inherent power; the idea was that someone be “in charge” of making sure that the arts were present in each school. 

I took it seriously and expanded it to include not only visual but other art forms- drama, music, creative movement and dance.

I designed my visual art program to be skill-centered.  I united the school with yearly themes (one year, it was “Harmony,” which of course relates to colors, voices, and people getting along- a wonderful connection to inspire creative art). 

I help the teachers by designing professional developments sessions: how to plan trips, how to display artwork, how to extend art projects from the art room into the classroom, connecting them to other subjects in a fun, productive way. 

The principal and teachers know that they can depend on me for a welcoming central hall display, booking trips, ordering buses, filling in forms, planning good events, and dozens of other chores that come up in the school year. 

I photo document every part of the program, so that when visitors come or donors want to know how we’ve used their grant money, I can readily show them heartwarming pictures of students engaged in art making and the glorious results. 

Over the years, I brought in thousands of dollars in grant money to provide the school with richly creative programs that brought my young friends experiences they would not have had otherwise.

continued in next post

Artists Who Care Interview #1 Miriam Rankin part II

 

 

Making a collage

 

What is the situation in the school now ?

• My school’s art program is now central to academic learning. 
• The entire school goes on art trips and neighborhood walks to inspire art projects and creative writing. 
• Student art exhibits and parent/child art workshops involve parents after school. 
• Our students win art contests.
• We are considered a “model school”,  now one of maybe 5 schools in the city commended for having such a distinguished art program.
• Because of a generous and continuous grant from a very prestigious art organization that has provided the school with two teaching artists, every child in the school has weekly art lessons.  Every student, from Pre-Kindergarten to 5^th Grade sculpts, paints, draws, collages, makes prints, and uses proper tools, materials and terminology. 
• The school library has a special art section that students helped me create- separate spaces for artists, careers in art, art history, reproductions, and arts and crafts. 
• Within the last three years, we’ve gotten a full time music teacher who runs two choruses and gives music instruction in violin, piano, clarinet, and flute to small groups. 

Although recently drama and dance programs have been reduced because of funding issues and the poor economy, we do have some programs for selected classes. 

I really don’t consider a program successful unless it reaches everyone but I’ve had to  learn to be realistic. 

Academically speaking, my principal credits the immersion in the arts with greatly improving test scores in literacy.  With the full support of the principal, I have brought the school acclaim and attention.

Will these programs continue after you no longer work there?

I’d like to think that the art program would continue as an integral part of the school’s curriculum even if I weren’t there but realistically, I don’t think it would have the same impact. 
In order for it to work, a school needs an art advocate, someone who is dedicated and steadfastly fuels the program, doing the leg work and paper work that keeps it running.  Even our principal who has been so supportive has no idea how to run an actual art program. 

 Anything else you want to add?
I wish my mother could have seen how well my career, started so late in life, has blossomed.  I feel successful, perhaps not in wealth or fame, but in satisfaction and the sense that I’ve done something completely and thoroughly well. 

Thank you for giving me a chance to explain and share my pride in my work. 

Mask

Shining through form

Continuing on from  the previous post- ‘Old Calligraphy, old territory’, I want to explain what it is I look for in a work of art.

I want to be moved, taken out of the ordinary, jolted into a new perception, given the key to a new world. I want to meet someone at heart level, at soul level through their work. I want to be returned to myself to know who I really am at my best and deepest. I want to be given an experience of wholeness and solace. I want to be opened, pried or blasted, it doesn’t matter. I want to be left with the feeling of, ‘It is a beautiful world after all, despite everything’.

Pretty high demands, one might say, but it has happened to me repeatedly, with music, theatre, painting drawing, poetry, etc. 

But here is a paradox: The artists that create work capable of giving this experience aren’t necessarily making ‘beautiful’ things in the conventional sense of the word. I find that what moves me, whether it is a drawing by a child or a painting by a master is something ‘true’ shining out of the work.

Eckhart Tolle, author of ‘The Power of Now’  and  ‘A new Earth’,  puts it this way:

Pseudo art is clever minds trying to be more clever, manipulating old forms. Nothing new has come in.

Nothing in that kind of art can lead you back into the formless which is the original reason for art—to be a portal, an access point for the sacred so that when you see/experience it you experience yourself.  In it you see the formless reflected, shining through form.     -From a talk given at Findhorn in 2004

He goes on to say that true art always contains another dimension than just what you see or hear. It is always more. And the ‘more’ is the energy that emanates from the work. He says too that this kind of power comes from a place of stillness.

And that leads me to a whole new thread, to be continued.

Old calligraphy, old territory

Recently I saw a catalogue from an international calligraphy exhibition. Most of the works were conventional in the sense that the aim was to make beautiful letters and arrange them well. There were hardly any pieces that went beyond this given. The work was adequate but it didn’t move or inspire me.

The last half century, the craft of calligraphy has been aspiring to be recognized as an art form, but there are only a few practitioners who embody this. Mostly it has stayed stuck in the basic levels of mastery of technique and material with little to say beyond the text contained in the quote.

I think part of the reason for this is that what it would take for calligraphic art to soar would require letting go of the very thing one aspires to as a practitioner of the craft- beautiful letters. Also, I think that to make art one needs to be an artist first and calligrapher second. Usually though, people start the other way around.

To move out of the closed circle of more and more perfection in the letters(and less life in the work),  you have to take some hefty risks. You have to be willing to let go of being a ‘good calligrapher’ and navigate a period of chaos.  You need to allow yourself to make ugly letters or no letters at all, and produce failed pieces.  Maybe for years,  until something true surfaces, something truly your own.

Looking at the pieces in that catalogue I could see exactly who had folowed what workshop with which famous calligrapher. Out of all the entries there was only one obscure piece that had broken away and explored new territory. The territory of their own heart. 

 

 

Refresher course

This is a joyful period where life’s lessons seem to be clustering around the previous topic, ‘letting go of having to be the authority or teacher’. Letting go of using will only, and making room for trust and grace.

I hit a wall teaching my 11 year old drawing student. I was running on empty and was no longer giving her the quality I felt she deserved. I also saw in her a similar trend to mine of going for results at the cost of process and even at this early age, identifying with being able to draw well. She was gobbling up techniques as fast as I could give them to her, and I felt pressured to keep coming up with new things. She, meanwhile was perhaps not getting the time needed to digest all she was learning.  This is all natural in the first stage of learning a new skill, but I felt she needed a balancing influence  in order to develop wholeness in relation to her art.

This is where my dear friend M was called in. She is starting her own practice in working with children and art and she has an entirely different approach than I. She is more a painter than an illustrator and and her work is more raw and dynamic, while mine tends more to aesthetic and controlled.  With the agreement of E and her mom, M took over E’s lessons for about 2 months.

My approach had been to  plan every lesson thoroughly, being aware of the goals, material skills, and procedure.

M , on the other hand,  made her studio inviting, prepared a general idea with a loose theme, set out materials and set E to work. She didn’t interfere or try to ‘teach’ E anything, yet she was totally present to what E was doing and did jump in if there was a question. The child worked solidly (this particular girl has ADHD) for an hour or more in total concentration. She explored and experimented and flourished with very little open interaction between her and the teacher.

Of course the intent was slightly different. E came to me with a clear request to learn to draw, in this, failure is an inevitable part of the process. With M the goal was to get acquainted with paints and have room to experiment with few constraints.

She is coming back to me on Monday. The break has given me time to refresh myself creatively and to reassess my own teaching method. I realize that I can give E the room to make her own mistakes and discoveries, can intervene less and generally step back a bit.

Disciplines of a Facilitator

Friends of mine, the Jenkinses, have written an excellent book, 9 Disciplines of a Facilitator.  I will review it at a later point, probably on Amazon, but it got me thinking.

Yesterday I led a workshop on ‘Creativity and Success, the inside story’. It was more or less the ‘soft’ marketing workshop for women I had been fantasizing about several months ago.

Beforehand, I was debating just what my role as leader of the workshop was. Was I there to teach, preach, convert, raise consciousness?  I have led workshops in such a way, and when they were successful, I was left with a curiously empty, cheated feeling.

Somehow, this had to be different. I felt I was asking the 15 participants to take some creative risks, which meant I needed to take some myself.

The risks I set up for myself were to let go of the need to be the teacher. I couldn’t do this entirely, it will take several times before I find a new way to be with the group, but this workshop was a step in the right direction. I let go of some of my agenda to make room for the participants to share their own wisdom and thoughts on the subject. And I saw myself as someone sharing the wisdom of my experience only, so it could be enhanced and given meaning by their own experience.

Part of the workshop was a hands-on art exercise, this too was an opportunity to let go of showing hoew to do everything. Actually there were too many people for me to give individual attention to, so some were left to improvise, and they were the ones who got fantastic results way out of the box of my expectations for the assignment.

There was good feedback on the workshop, and I felt great afterwards. For me it had been an experience of sharing the love I have for creativity and my belief in the power of creativity to transform and heal.

And I am learning that the power of a workshop to touch lives comes less from covering all the points in the lecture than from creating an environment together where magic can happen.

‘I in drawing, drawing in me’

‘Nori’s jeans’

This is one of the drawings made by Tomoko, a private art student I took on after a long period of not teaching.
Tomoko hadn’t drawn since she was a child. She had loved drawing and was discouraged by her surroundings from pursuing it as a study because, in her society, art was held apart as a high aspiration for talented people only. I guess those around her didn’t have the eyes to recognize her genuine talent and love of art.

In her first lesson, and from then on all the talent that had lain dormant for 20 years or more just flowed out. She was doing university level work after a few lessons.  She, in her utterly creative and poetic version of English, spoke of the healing she was experiencing as she rediscovered her drawing ability.  But being able to do art also returned to her a part of herself that had not been allowed to flourish, and with it came growing self confidence plus a whole new set of life questions. It was a beautiful thing to be witness to.

It was very hard breaking off our lessons and weekly contact when her husband’s period of study here was over, but we have kept in touch. And helping Tomoko rediscover and develop her artistic ability was a gift for me too. It reawakened my joy in teaching and got me drawing again.  Plus I have a dear friend in Japan now.