Summer Workshop with Laura Summer

Register with Renewal

http://www.centerforanthroposophy.org/

Latest Newsletter Available: Issue #38

Here is a link to the most recent Art Section Newsletter: Autumn/Winter 2012, issue # 38

On the right hand side scroll down for a listing of all past posted newsletters. 

Art Retreat with Jennifer Thomson and Philip Incao

2013 August 9 thru 13 Art Retreat

Transforming Living Creative forces into Color & Form

Blooming, blossoming, growing, flourishing, wilting..decaying… Point, periphery …creativity and imagination through the art of painting

Our focus will be to develop form and motif ‘out of the color’, an approach inspired by Goethe and Steiner that perceives colors as the visible outer garments of invisible forces and beings.

Mornings, 9am, we begin our color work, practicing the veil technique with watercolor and a given color study that will develop into a painting.  Practice motif with various artistic techniques.

Afternoons till 4:30, One afternoon sketching in Colorado’s magnificent nature.  On the other days taking inspiration from flowers, we’ll explore Cy Twombly’s plant techniques, develop outdoor sketches and practice various color combinations.  Material used in the workshop:  watercolor, gouache, ink, colored pencils and charcoal.

Evening Presentations:

Jennifer Thomson:  Cy Twombly & Abstract Expressionism

Philip Incao:  ‘Our Health’ conversation

Tuition:  $335 includes supplies, 5 dynamic organic veggie lunches & snacks

Deposit:  $75, nonrefundable

Accommodations:  B&B, Hotel, camping yurts(see on back)

Meals:  nearby cafes, organic food stores

Location:  Sun Studio in Crestone, Colorado

Sign up & info:  Jennifer Thomson, POBox 894, Crestone, Colorado 81131

719-937-7694…sunstudio.thomson1@gmail.com….www.jenniferthomson.net

Space limited….adult beginners & advanced

Join us in Crestone, Colorado, August 9 thru 13

Spend 5 rejuvenation days with color and painting.  There will be opportunities for soaks or swims in nearby hot springs or hikes in National Forest or the Sand Dunes National Park, or visit Crestone’s spiritual centers.  See wildlife. Renew yourself and your life’s path in contemplation and color in the beauty of Crestone’s 8000 foot Alpine Valley

Jennifer's Website

Trials in Approaching Art: Beyond the Object, Beyond Sensation

by Nathaniel Williams

Today there are many trials in approaching art! Many approaches never come within the proximity of artistic experience or artistic inspiration. Indeed, many people are suspicious of inspiration which can lead to its marginalization in any investigation of art. Our lives are tremendously varied and complex. Within this complexity of experience, art and imagination have a particular power. Movies, music, literature and pictures take root in all manner of human lives and suddenly leaf out into moments of profundity, mystery and harmony. These subtle, yet powerful, experiences are not limited to culture. Sometimes similar moments surprise us in the midst of ordinary life. A friend may laugh and suddenly become a short story we wish we could write, or a wren, moving in the cloud-padded sunset’s pink, becomes a dance we cannot perform, while our breath is checked by a sudden intimacy in life’s bustle.
We can identify these experiences or terrains but it is difficult to speak about their nature. But before we try to speak we should start with an account of a profound experience of art’s transformative power from a real and particular life. Henrik Steffens (1773-1845), the Scandanavian philosopher, scientist and writer, wealthy in experience and then reminiscences (10 volumes of the latter), describes a number of such moments in his memoir, Was Ich Erlebte. Steffens, known mostly for his work in Geology, Physics and Anthropology and for his dedication to the sciences also had an artistic sensibility.

READ THE WHOLE ESSAY HERE 

Beyond the Object – Beyond Sensation: A Narrative Report

By David Adams

Let me state up front that for me this conference last July in Hudson, New York, was probably the most inspiring, stimulating, and innovative anthroposophical event I have participated in during forty years of involvement with anthroposophy. I’m not sure everyone there would feel this way, but it was a very diverse group of participants. This conference not only explored and showcased a number of new, cutting-edge modes of activity in the visual arts that anthroposophists are beginning to experiment with, in the general direction of adding elements of motion and time (and observer involvement) to the visual arts to give them more of the nature of music, a direction that Rudolf Steiner said art must take in the future. It also can be seen as pioneering a new mobile structure for an anthroposophical conference – partly by the design, preparation, and openness of the planners, partly by the creativity of those present, virtually all of whom were visual artists and/or musicians. This new form of anthroposophical gathering is essentially permeated by the artistic element but also brings deep content in a way that leaves the participants free to attend to it, even to modify it, as well as to deepen it with further contemplation and activity, or not. Participation is possible at a number of different levels simultaneously. However, I’m not yet sure how much this sort of approach can be extended to other kinds of conferences on other topics. Still, it gives me hope that anthroposophy may, in fact, continue to evolve in the forms of its expression. 

Link to the whole article

Latest North American Art Section Newsletter

The latest North American Art Section Newsletter, Issue #37 Summer/Autumn 2012 is
available to read online. Click here to read.

The Goetheanum as White Magic, or Why Is Anthroposophical Architecture So Important? by David Adams

As the Anthroposophical Society prepares in 2013 to once again close down the Goetheanum auditorium in Dornach and over the next year to perform a variety of overdue restoration work on the stage, roof, and terrace of this now 90-some-year-old building, it is worth inquiring once again just why this Goetheanum artwork is so significant for anthroposophy and for the world.

It is not generally known that Rudolf Steiner, in addition to the seventeen buildings he designed, delivered more than seventy lectures about architecture, primarily concerning the Goetheanum?1 He also wrote several essays on this topic and included many more important discussions and references on architecture and the Goetheanum as ”side topics” in other lectures. Why did Steiner feel the Goetheanum, and architecture in general, to be such an important subject? We know he would not have come to such a judgment lightly. 

For link to the whole essay click here. 

Upcoming October Workshop with Van James

Transformative Power of Art Part 2: Rudolf Steiner's Aesthetic and the Art of Color

Van James "Architypal Plant" motif after Steiner 

A retreat-workshop with Van James
October 14-19, 2012
Prado Farms, Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines

For artists, teachers, art therapists, and creative people of all kinds ...
Join renowned teaching artist Van James, (www.vanjames.smugmug.com), author of Spirit and Art: Pictures of the Transformation of Consciousness and The Secret Language of Form, in The Transformative Power of Art II: Rudolf Steiner's Aesthetic and the Art of Color, the second visual arts retreat workshop in the Philippines, from October 14 to 19, 2012.

Link to more information and PDF for retreat-workshop flyer 

Latest Art Section Newsletter Available to Read Here

Here is a link to Issue #36, Autumn/Winter 2011

See a list of other Newsletters to read in the right hand column of this blog under
Past Art Section Newsletters

Rudolf Steiner’s 1918 Project with Jan Stuten for a New
Colored “Light-Play-Art,” Metamorphoses of Fear
by David Adams

Jan Stuten, Sketch No. 13, Metamorphoses of Fear, ca. 1919-1937. 

Jan Stuten, Sketch No. 15, Metamorphoses of Fear, ca. 1919- 1937. 

IN1918 at the end of the first world war Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the Austrian-born founder of anthroposophy, gave the musician, composer, and scenery designer Jan Stuten (1890-1948) a task. Arising from his concerns about mechanizing, materialistic (or, in anthroposophical terminology, “Ahrimanic”) influences from watching the inartistic silent films of his day, Steiner had the idea of a new, alternative color- art combining sound, colored light, color-movement, and colored shadows in a way that would leave the viewer free to interpret what was seen and would keep the spectator inwardly active (as opposed to the passivity of watching films). 

Link to whole article

Free Columbia ART Dispersal

Sunday/ Monday - May 20/21 3pm-9pm Basilca Hudson
ART for 100% of People

#12 Dan Pate 24x29 inches

Red, Yellow, Blue   Laura Summer 10x10 inches

#3 Nick Pomeroy 8 X 10 inches

Can you imagine going to visit someone and finding their home full of artwork? Can you imagine needing to stop and ask directions on your way there and finding that person’s home full of artwork? Can you imagine appearing in court to pay your parking ticket and finding the courtroom walls covered with paintings  that were  somehow consistent with your being in a courtroom? Can you imagine a society where many, many people are working artistically and everywhere is something that has been created by someone? Can you imagine a society where these people also have time and materials and enough to eat?

The Free Columbia Art Course is a year long investigation of art in relation to the spiritual aspects of the human being and the world. As a new experiment in our ongoing attempts to de-commodify art, Free Columbia is planning an art dispersal event.http://www.freecolumbia.org/art-dispersal.php See the web album at https://picasaweb.google.com/103588655269987228457/ArtDispersal
As a society we have placed original visual art outside of the financial means of the majority of people. At the same time we have impoverished most of our artists. We need to turn this situation around.

At the art dispersal event, which will occur on May, 20 and 21, 2012 we will present three different, and not necessarily connected, actions.
 

1. We will make approximately 100 pieces of visual art by various artists available for dispersal to people who would like to live with them for an unspecified amount of time. This means that the recipients will take the work home and will not need to return it. If the time comes when they no longer want to keep the artwork they can give it to someone else who does want it or they can contact the artist to return it.
2. We will have festive cultural evenings with music, food and conversation. People will be encouraged to support the event but there will not be admission charges.
3. We will let people know that Free Columbia is trying to raise the majority of our yearly budget, ($55,000) so that we can be one year ahead of our operating expenses. In order to create a free cultural space Free Columbia is supported by a freely given gifts. Everyone at Free Columbia is encouraged to participate, but these new donations would allow us to teach for the year free of asking our current students to support the current year. Any money that was collected in donations during the year could assure the existence of the next year’s program. If we raised an amount over $55,000 we could expand Free Columbia’s programming. We have had strong and positive experiences of what happens when you separate education from tuition and we are convinced that being one year ahead of our expenses will significantly increase the experience of what we, as a community, can bring. 

How are these actions connected? Only in terms of visibility, time and space. That is, the event will make people aware of the availability of the artwork and of the possibility of contributing to the gift economy that supports Free Columbia. Those who take paintings will be encouraged to make a financial contribution but it will be clear that this is not connected to a value assigned to the art work, rather it is an opportunity to support creative activity which the person obviously values since they are taking the work home. Also people are free to contribute to Free Columbia and need not take any artwork home.  We don’t know what will happen but we will know more after we try it.
There are a limited number of paintings available for people who do not live locally. These can be seen athttp://www.freecolumbia.org/art-dispersal.phpPlease contact Laura Summer if you are interested laurasummer@taconic.net
We will hold the main dispersal event at Basilica Hudson, 110 Front Street, Hudson, New York on Sunday and Monday, May 20 and 21 from 3pm to 9pm.
Perhaps you have wanted to live with a painting by one of these artists, perhaps you have wanted to contribute to free culture but how to do this was unclear, perhaps you are simply curious about what will happen…    for whatever reason, please participate in the art dispersal event.

Let us see what happens when we ask people to support the conditions for creativity instead of purchasing artwork.
 

Artists Participating:
Lailah Amstutz
Simeon Amstutz
Lisa Archigian
Laura Charlton
Lindy Chicola
Christine Hales
Martha Loving
Christiane Marks
Cassidy Muckleston
Brooke Nixon
Dan Pate
Nick Pomeroy
Mado Spiegler
Laura Summer
Nathaniel Williams

See the web album at https://picasaweb.google.com/103588655269987228457/ArtDispersal
Basilica Hudson 110 front street hudson NY 

Upcoming Conference at the Goetheanum

Here is a link to the program for the International Art Section conference in May at the Goetheanum.

Free Columbia Summer Art Courses

3 courses with renowned and inspiring musician and visual artist -  Manfred Bleffert

Color and music through the circle of the year

June 16-22 – Instrument Building - The breathing process of the earth, and of the cosmos, as a musical base for the development of new instruments and musical form. We will make iron and copper gongs and Glockenspiele

June 25-29 – New Music Improvisation - What does music want to become now and in the future? And what is North America’s role in the development of new music? With Manfred’s guidance, we will explore these questions together through ever-varied improvisation and listening exercises.  Using both our own instruments and Manfred’s uniquely designed new instruments (chimes, gongs, Glockenspiele, among others), we will bring to consciousness the elements of musical breathing and listening that allow new musical experiences to come to birth. In this co-creative process, each individual contributes to the breathing, listening, and sounding within the group. All experience levels welcome!

July 2-6 – Color and Tone in Relation to Rudolf Steiner’s Soul Calendar Using painting and music we will explore the cycle of the year in creative process. We will work with the relationships of color and tone in the Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner. We will see what is revealed in gesture and movement when we enter the world of tone, color, sound and form as we follow the course of the year.

Manfred Bleffert has dedicated his life to developing new music. His work includes a unique approach to graphic notation, composition and instrument building. His research is both broad and profound. His compositions are improvisational and unique. He is both a musician and a visual artist and a dynamic and inspiring teacher.

July 14-18

5 days of experimental work with color, light, music and puppetry

with Laura Summer, Nathaniel Williams, Faye Shapiro and Marisa Michelson

July 23-27

Seeing the Word through Painting
a workshop with Laura Summer
 
Working with poems and stories as well as watercolor, pastel, charcoal, and collage we will explore this subject. Through relaxing our expectations, while playfully manipulating our media, we will experience the realm of creation and develop skills for our further work.

July 23-27

Orientation Toward an Inner Voice

Vocal Experimentation with Composed and Improvised Music

 with Marisa Michelson and Faye Shapiro

The lands of the soul open up and show themselves to us- we see them with our imagination, we travel them with our voices... With exercises aimed to free the body and awaken the soul we will explore possibilities given to us in the voice. We will improvise together and compose music in real time, we will try to find a relationship to music inside, around and outside of ourselves with the aid of imagining. All that needed is the desire to sing. 

All of the work at Free Columbia is based on an understanding of the importance of creating a free cultural space, therefore there are no set tuitions. Rather we offer suggested donation amounts based on what it costs to run courses. If you prefer it is possible to make a monthly pledge to support Free Columbia rather than making a one time donation.

A commodity fee of  $180 will be charged to each participant in the instrument building workshop. This fee is related to your being able to take home the instrument you build. This fee is in addition to the suggested donation.

5 day courses suggested donation $250 – 450

instrument building fee = $180

all supplies are included but not housing or food

contact: Laura Summer 518 672 7302 laurasummer@taconic.net

July 20,21,22

CONFERENCE

beyond the object

beyond sensation

a conference concerned with experience, light, movement, color and sound

including presentations of ideas, presentations of work, discussion, conversation and a exhibition of work.

The conference will take place in Columbia County New York. If you are interested in more information you may contact :

Nathaniel Williams nafanyel79@gmail.com       518 672 4090

Laura Summer laurasummer@taconic.net         518 672 7302

suggested donation – sliding scale $200-$120

International Art Section Ascension Conference 2012

Recent Review of Exhibit at the Guggenheim in NY by Nathaniel Williams

Lee Ufan, Marking Infinity at the Guggenheim

Lee Ufan creating work at the Guggenheim

Lee Ufan work in the Guggenheim

Lee Ufan creating work at the Guggenheim

This Fall the Guggenheim in NYC hosted a retrospective of the contemporary Korean artist Lee Ufan and called it marking infinity.  His work and questions concerning art are extremely revealing not simply of his person but of the greater questions of our time.  If I were to try to encapsulate the fundamental mission of Lee Ufan it would be in two points.  One is to fight against culture and visual art being thought of as objects which exist in self sufficient contentment.  The second was to facilitate experiences for people, in which they could genuinely say that they encountered some aspect of nature, or reality.

An illustration of the first and second point would be a work consisting of two objects in a room, a natural stone and a metal plate.  The plate is leaned against a wall and the stone resting on the floor.  The experience is of the whole space and the relations alive in it which de-objectifies the art.  The experience is of materials, objects and spaces which Ufan has minimally engaged.  Ufan wants to facilitate meetings between natural objects and people and sees that the museum is one place where everyday awareness can be infiltrated.  For Ufan, contemporary inner life is a place of images that have lost “their exteriority.  Generally speaking, we can see gesture as an artistic act that cuts into and opens up holes in the systemized fiction of the everyday environment determined by assumed values.”[1]  So for Ufan, Duchamp’s placing a porcelain urinal in a museum was such an incision, suddenly assumed values fall away and we meet an object we supposedly knew already.  The artists job is to facilitate such meetings.

It is unfortunate that we experience culture as contained in some few magical objects and not as simply aspects of the great cultural reality of our daily life.  The desire for artistic creations to be experienced as meaningful, not only as specialized objects for a high brow society, but for all human beings and modern life in general is easy to understand.  We do not have this culture currently.  In fact our inner experience of life, our “assumed values” are so barren that we want to escape our culture.  But where can we find solace?  Ufan offers encounters with nature, or things as they are.  With this he testifies that human culture has lost touch with spiritual inspirations of the same elemental power as natural inspirations.  In the past these spiritual inspirations have never been the same as natural inspirations, though they share in the same spirit.  When the cultural vigor wanes, it is understandable that we run to nature for nourishment.  Rudolf Steiner indicated this already on the multiple occasions that he described the advent of landscape painting as a result of the withdrawal of a higher cultural inspiration.[2]  He also pointed out that no artist stood a chance in competition with nature.  The landscape will always triumph.  It is when a painter brings something new to nature, as an inspired higher nature, that their work is really justified.  Ufan has at least given up rendering nature, and simply brought her into the museum.             

---

[1] Lee Ufan-In Search of Encounter- The Sources of Contemporary Art

[2] Rudolf Steiner-Lecture IV in-the Social Future, October 28, 1919

Recent Essay by Nathaniel Williams

Imagining Cultural Freedom
by Nathaniel Williams


The role that culture plays in society is one of the most widely discussed issues of our time. Some people argue that cultural freedom is the root of economic injustice and inequality. Others argue that freedom is the most important and sacred characteristic of culture. When we train our ear to the varied discourses in the world we hear this question being approached in the most varied forms. It is impossible to act with resolve in any direction without developing these perspectives into some coherent interrelationship. This essay is an attempt at exactly this, to show that these various perspectives unite in a surprising way, revealing that what is called free culture today is often an impotent poverty. We will start with considerations from the art world as they lead to an understanding of broader contemporary culture.


Since the ‘60s art and culture are less likely to be described in aesthetic isolation and they are being seen more and more as essentially indistinguishable from economic and political realities1. This new attitude sees that many people are still floating in the dreamy soup of culture without raising context of culture into focus, yet this old, naïve state is quickly vanishing. To see art as an expression of creative spirit emanating from the artist’s activity, is becoming more and more difficult. 

Click on this link to read the whole essay

Report from Michael Howard

Report on
The Visual Art Section Conference
At the Goetheanum


November 24-27, 2011


Michael Howard


If the Visual Art Section meeting at the Goetheanum in November 2010 was shrouded in a dark and troubling mood, the gathering this year was imbued with a more light-filled and creative spirit of renewal.


Significant steps had already been taken at our June, 2011 meeting, concluding with the strong mandate given to Rik ten Cate of Holland to serve as a Section Coordinator for the coming year till our conference in May 2012. Rik had been urged to form a Coordinating Council to work with him in attending to the essential business of the Art Section. This included the forming of the two Art Section conferences that traditionally took place in November and May/June of each year. Most particularly, Rik and the Coordinating Council were charged with facilitating the process of finding new organizational forms, and in particular a new organ of leadership, that would serve the future development of the Art Section.


On the afternoon of Thursday, November 24th,before the conference proper began, two First Class Lessons were held in which the Fourth Recapitulation Lesson and Lesson Five were read in German, followed by an open conversation.


That evening Rik ten Cate warmly welcomed the 70+ members of the Art Section gathered in the Sudatelier of the Goetheanum. The Social Ethic Motto given by Rudolf Steiner to Edith Maryon was spoken in both German and English. Rik then gave a detailed report of all that had happened since the June conference. The following were among the main points:

1. a)  Rik introduced the four other Council Members; Christiane Schwarzweller, Martin Zweifel, Gottfried Caspar and Michael Howard. He also introduced Tanja Hietsch, who is Seija Zimmermann’s assistant, but who in recent months had done much of the administrative work for our Section.
   
   
   
2. b)  Rik gave an update on the revising of the contact list of Section members worldwide, emphasizing that a final letter will go out shortly in an effort to have everyone who regards themselves an active member of the Art Section to confirm their contact info or provide an update.
   
   
   
3. c)  While a year ago the Art Section had no budget, Rik was pleased to report that we have had a modest but adequate budget since June and a comparable budget of E 60,000 is in place for 2012. In addition, our Section has received 2 gifts totaling E1500.
   

Rik went on to introduce the two main subjects of this conference, and outlined the different ways they would be addressed:
1.Exploring the question of spiritual scientific research within the realm of the visual arts.

1. i)  Two full lectures by Pieter van der Ree and Heinz Georg Haussler;
   
2. ii)  8 workshops meeting three times each;
   

2.Continuing the process of reforming the Art Section.

3. iii)  Four formal presentations by Willi Grass, Espen Tharaldsen, Michael Howard and
   Christians Schwarzweller;
   
4. iv)  Four Discussion groups meeting two times, plus one session for reporting;
   
5. v)  Two plenum discussions.
   

Rik concluded his introduction to the conference with three questions intended to guide our deliberations about the future of the Art Section:

1. What does the Art Section need to realize its spiritual tasks?
   
2. What organizational and leadership forms will serve those needs?
   
3. What process will bring us to the new leadership of the Art Section?
   

The evening concluded with Elizabeth Wagner saying a few words about her research in regards to developing 8 sets of 12 paintings that were exhibited in the Sudatelier throughout the conference. Each set of 12 paintings started with placing on successive page a different colored wash according to Steiner’s12-fold color circle related to the Zodiac. To each of these different ground colors Elizabeth brought the same sequence of four colors. Each set of 12 paintings was based on the four colors Rudolf Steiner indicated were related to a particular vowel sound. The first color was the color of the planet to which the vowel belonged,. For example, U is related to Saturn

and the color for Saturn is blue, so the first color brought to each of the 12 different ground colors was blue. This was followed by another blue that is the ‘movement color” Steiner gave for the eurythmy gesture of U, followed by yellow as the ‘feeling color’ of U, and lastly, violet as the “character color’ of U. This methodical approach to building up the colors of a painting led to an incredible metamorphosis of motifs through each sequence of 12 paintings, some of which were clearly related to Rudolf Steiner’s painting sketches. As the fruit of a life’s works, it deserved a more in-depth presentation than the occasion allowed, but it was inspiring nevertheless.


I. Spiritual Research in the Realm of the Visual Arts:


1.Lecture by Pieter van der Ree:

Pieter began with the question: how can spiritual scientific research in architecture contribute to
mainstream architecture? He took us on a journey through the history of architecture from the igloo to the BMW Welt building in Munich. Through this Pieter drew our attention to the incredible freedom given to the architect today through the technological developments of recent decades that no longer limits architecture to the box. But, all this freedom begs the question: Are we any closer to architecture truly serving human life and human development? More and more buildings draw upon the full spectrum of the language of form, that have an organic, free-form quality to them, but what is needed for this freedom of form to more truly serve the human being? Pieter’s main point was that we have a long way to go in developing the capacities for a living architecture, for this depends on our developing the capacity for living thinking to a much greater extent. Pieter concluded by showing some examples of his student’s work to indicate how the schooling of architects must strengthen the middle realm where living, pictorial thinking can mediate between abstract thinking, on the one hand, and the practical demands of the physical world, on the other.


2.Lecture by Heinz Georg Haussler:

Heinz Georg recalled how from his earliest days as a student he had the question: Are their laws of
sculpture? He soon realized that no one could answer this question for him; that he would have to search for answers himself. He then described the profound and humbling shock of seeing the work of Michelangelo—what was left to achieve in sculpture? In 1961 he had a further shock when he saw the 2nd Goetheanum and the photographs and models of the 1st Goetheanum. Much of his subsequent work was based on exploring the relationship between the formative forces at work in Michelangelo’s sculptures and those of the Goetheanum buildings. Heinz quoted Steiner from 1912 in which he indicated there was a relationship between the 4-fold human being and the four main reclining figures of the Medici Tomb. This led him to some forty years of study and drawing these figures, searching to discover and experience deeply their archetypal gestures, and eventually publishing his findings in a book. More important than any particular results was the process of asking questions and pursuing them through artistic means. This is what anthroposophy can offer as a new path for art and artists. Heinz then described the evolution of another research project that occupied him for the last 20+ years, namely, the carving of 8 large columns in marble that only recently were placed in a village for handicapped children in Germany. They stand in a circle with two in the East representing Life and Death, two in the South representing Flowering and Fruiting, two in the West representing Light and Dark, and two in the North representing Thought and Will.


3.Research Workshops:

The following workshops explored the question of artistic research in a variety of ways:

1. i)  Two Approaches to Painting with Dorothea Templeton and Caroline Chanter.
   
2. ii)  The Riddle of Counter Colors in the Small Cupola with Peter Stebbing.
   
3. iii)  Painting as an Inner Schooling with Doris Harpers.
   
4. iv)  Developing the Capacities for Creating Living Architecture with Pieter van der Ree.
   
5. v)  Spiritual Research in the Visual Arts with Michael Howard.
   
6. vi)  Architecture and Mystery Architecture with Espen Tharaldsen.
   
7. vii)  An Epistemology of the Visual Arts with Willi Grass.
   
8. viii)  Carving the Schreinerei Pear Tree with Barbara Schnetzler and Steffen Marreel. 

II The Future of the Visual Art Section


A. Formal Presentations:

Four short presentations on the future of the Section were offered:


1. Willi Grass affirmed that the basic aim of the School of Spiritual Science is to cultivate the practice of spiritual scientific research, however, this is still little understood among the members. As for finding new forms for the Art Section, Willi reminded us that the forms are not for us but are to serve human evolution. Can we simply invent new forms of this kind, or are the forms established at the Christmas conference of 1923 still the appropriate forms needed now and into the future? The present forms of the Society and School give every member great freedom to take initiative with others. The task of a Leader is not to judge but to support and coordinate the initiative of the members. Without a Leader it is difficult to unify all the parts as a whole. The challenges of the School cannot be answered by one Section but must be addressed among the members of all Sections. As members of the School we need to research the future. In the 5th Statute Rudolf Steiner is clear that Dornach is only one of many possible centers for anthroposophy. But Dornach has a particular leadership role as a center where all questions can be brought and seen as a whole. Willi concluded with three questions:

1. i)  Who are those already perceived to be playing a leadership role?
   
2. ii)  How can we foster inter-sectional work?
   
3. iii)  How is the form of our Society and School still right for the present and future situation?
   

2. Espen Tharaldsen began with a quotation from a 1911 lecture where Rudolf Steiner suggests that human beings today need to experience buildings with “walls that are not walls”. Espen helped us appreciate this thought by presenting a brief overview of the evolution of human consciousness through the history of temples, making visible that the temple is the human being. Whereas the temples of the past—as with the pyramid—were visible imaginations of the spiritual brought down to the human, today the gesture needs to show how the human being can raise himself up to the spirit. It is in this sense that we need “walls that are not walls”, or living spiritual walls. Espen concluded with the view that new forms cannot be invented but must be born out of the spiritual forces of the Time. In what way are the spiritual forces that were active in shaping the Society and School in1923 the same or different than the forces active today?


3. Michael Howard began by bringing together Willi’s thought about the form of the Society and School given in 1923 being the form needed today, and Espen’s thought from Steiner that humankind needs “walls that are not walls.” Michael was reminded that elsewhere Rudolf Steiner had spoken of the need for “living etheric walls.” This led to the thought that today we need social forms that are not social forms, but living, etheric social forms. The forms of the Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science are to be understood and worked with as such living etheric social forms that are not fixed but remain in living movement. With this in mind we can avoid the danger of holding on too tightly to the forms of 1923 without inventing new forms abstractly. The principle of metamorphose, made visible in the forms of the Goetheanum, must be worked with in the forms of the Society and School. Michael affirmed the central importance of Section activity where we work together in person, but he suggested two reasons for strengthening awareness for our individual Section work. Our involvement in the Section originates in our personal experience of working within the spiritual stream of the Michael School, and we must keep in mind that many Section members do not have the possibility of working very often with other Section members. Michael then quoted the sentence: “the whole purpose of spiritual science is to prepare for the 6th cultural epoch.” This suggests a primary task for the Art Section: How can the arts prepare for the 6th epoch? One indication Steiner gives is that human beings will become only more diverse in their inner constitution such that it will require quite new capacities to create social harmony and unity out of such diversity. How can the arts develop the capacities for a social art that will serve communities of aspiring ethical individuals? What will leadership look like if there are no followers but all are leaders? How can we today prepare the way for such a new form of leadership? Michael urged that we put more time and effort into building up individual and local Art Section activity, including in Dornach, so that we see more clearly that at the local level the leadership qualities we need to cultivate are the capacities to engage in spiritual research, while the work at the more regional and worldwide level call for leadership in coordination of the individual and local activity. We have the opportunity to demonstrate in the way we continue to evolve the form of our Section how an artistic experience of metamorphosis can be applied to the metamorphosis of the forms of the Society and School.

4. Christiane Schwarzweller noted that the present exhibition, Goetheanum 1:1, that highlights the Goetheanum itself as a work of art, challenges us to understand this last work of art from Rudolf Steiner. To understand this building we must understand the activity it is meant to serve. She used this analogy to suggest that if we are looking for the form of the Art Section we must likewise look to the activity of the Art Section. For this reason we might use the Goetheanum as the model for the Art Section. As the Goetheanum did not appear out of nothing but arose out of the stream of evolution, we too must try to enter into the stream of forces that have shaped the Section in order to envision how it might metamorphose in a living but spiritually lawful manner. Christiane also gave a brief overview of the history of sacred spaces from Noah’s ark to Solomon’s temple, Chartre, and eventually to the First and Second Goetheanum. Through the image of the Jachim and Boaz pillars and its metamorphosis in the Goetheanum buildings, she suggested that we are now in a time where we have no teacher to guide us directly, but we must guide ourselves. Through the arts we have the tools to do this; through art we can learn the language of the gods and thereby find our way back to the spiritual worlds. Michael’s spear of light is a spear of insight, not a spear for slaying. And through Michael, our ‘I’ can develop the strength to develop freedom in our thinking, feeling and willing, and in this way, find our way to the Christ. Particularly, through art we can develop freedom in the realm of feeling that leads us to cosmic feeling, to the spiritual beings working in and through feeling. And freedom in the realm of willing will allow each individual to realize their individual potential in a way that does not hinder but complements the will of others. Christiane concluded with the thought that we should not be overly concerned about what is right or wrong, but open ourselves to seeing what is needed. We should only ensure that no structure of the Section hinders any individual’s will but allows each to unfold their potential. This is what Rudolf Steiner intended with the Stiftung of 1911. Perhaps the time is ripe for us to realize this ideal through our present efforts in the Art Section.


B. Discussion Groups


There were two sessions in which four discussion groups met to discuss the future of the Art Section. The three questions Rik presented the first evening were used to guide the conversation:

1. What does the Art Section need to realize its spiritual tasks?
   
2. What organizational and leadership forms will serve those needs?
   
3. What process will bring us to the new leadership of the Art Section?
   

The following is a summary of the points made from the reports made by each of the four groups. They are organized according to the three questions above:

1. Each group explored in their own way why each person belonged to the Art Section, and what they felt the tasks of the Section were in the world. The practice of spiritual research in the sphere of the visual arts was emphasized in each group, especially the need to meet in person to support each other on the inner path of developing the capacities for doing spiritual research. Other tasks mentioned were to cultivate inter-sectional research activity, to exhibit the work of colleagues, especially those less known, to tend the need for art trainings, to find the language for speaking about the anthroposophical art impulse in ways that can be understood by our contemporaries.
   
   
   
2. In regards to the form of the Section, including the form of leadership needed at this time, the following points were made:
   
   1. i)  Some felt we should hold back on the question of a Leader and focus on gaining a fuller picture of Art Section activity around the world;
      
   2. ii)  Look to see who has the capacities for different kinds of initiative such as organizing exhibitions, conferences, newsletters, coordinating activities and facilitating communications;
      
   3. iii)  The idea of a separate Section for architecture was put forward;
      
   4. iv)  The difference between a Leader and a Coordinator, and the pros and cons of
      both were debated. Most seem to favor the idea of the members naming a
      Coordinator of the Section, who in turn would form a Coordinating Council;
      
   5. v)  There were different views about whether to have a small leadership group of 2-3
      or a larger group in order to draw upon a wider scope of capacities, and that would
      include a wider representation of Section activity around the world;
      
   6. vi)  Servant leadership was mentioned in most groups , along with the picture of the
      heart--not as a pump but as an organ of perception—as a model for Section leadership.

3. Regarding the process by which we go forward, in the written contributions posted on the Section
website before the conference, there were some proposals for how to appoint a new Leader or Leadership Group for the Art Section. At the end of the conference itself, it was noted that no proposals had been made about the leadership process. By inference, as much as by direct statements, it was evident that everyone supported the form that emerged last June, namely, that the members name a leading Coordinator, who in turn would form a Coordinating Council. In other words, there was widespread accord that we should continue with the present form, understanding that this would naturally and organically continue to evolve.


Closing Plenum:

Two open plenum sessions filled the final morning with a variety of announcements--too numerous to
record here—as well as closing thoughts about the process of moving forward and about our next conference in May. Rik urged that we foster the idea of not waiting for some leadership group to take an initiative but that everyone develop their potential to take initiative. For example, wherever we have a question or interest, we should see it as an opportunity to take it up as a research question. Furthermore, we should think about developing ways for people to let others know of their interests so that they might find ways to collaborate whether near or far. He especially encouraged us to take up the research question of how the arts develop social capacities, on the one hand, and how art is a meditative path for developing spiritual organs of perception, on the other hand. Rik hoped we would find ways to go further with these subjects at our next conference scheduled for May 17-20, 2012 at the Goetheanum. And plans have been set in motion to organize a large exhibition in the Goetheanum during the May conference, to which all are invited to contribute 2-3 works.


Lastly, in response to comments and questions about the continuation of the Coordinating Council, all five members of the present Coordinating Council affirmed their commitment to complete their task through our conference in May. They also made clear that the question of who will be Coordinator and who will serve on the Coordinating Council was an open matter to be discussed and decided at the May 2012 conference.