Arts & Consciousness Intensives
January / February, 2015
Rudolf Steiner College
Van James, BFA, San Francisco Art Institute, Hawai'i based artist, author, and teacher; art instructor Honolulu Waldorf School for over 30 years; guest teacher at colleges and schools in Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and the US; chair of the Anthroposophical Society in Hawai'i; editor, Pacifica Journal; author of several books on art and culture including, Ancient Sites of O'ahu; Spirit and Art; The Secret Language of Form; and his latest, Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart.
WEEK l
January 26-29, 2015 8:30 am - 12:30 pm Face Value & Beyond: Experiences in Portraiture with Van James
How is it that the art of the portrait reveals more than an outer appearance? Can the portrait and self-portrait lead to a deeper understanding of our humanity and the self? We will pursue these and other questions in this portrait drawing/painting course which will consider a wide variety of mediums and approaches to the portrait and self-portrait beginning with the stages of children's drawings and the historical developments of portraiture, working towards greater technical refinement and more creative expression. This workshop is for beginners, teachers, and artists alike.
$235 ($185 seniors / students)
WEEK ll
February 2-5, 2015 8:30 am - 12:30 pm Mysteries of the Mandala : Awakening Hidden Geometry of the Soul with Van James
Carl Jung said of mandalas: "In accord with the Eastern conception, the mandala symbol is not only a means of expression, but works an effect. It reacts upon its maker. Very ancient magical effects lie hidden in this symbol...the magic of which has been preserved in countless folk customs." This intensive will consider the worldwide significance of mandalas and explore the deeper spiritual-artistic aspects of this unique form through progressively more challenging drawing exercises, including how Rudolf Steiner worked with the mandala principle in meditations, and culminating in the creation of individually themed mandalas. No artistic experience is necessary.$235 ($185 seniors / students)
Evenings for Teachers, Parents & Others
Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart: Developing the Language of Pictures with Van James.
Three evening sessions 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Children learn by means of concrete, then symbolic, and finally by abstract knowing. All three forms of learning can be accessed by means of the arts, especially the first two that are most important in primary and elementary education. How can the visual art of drawing teach children to see, learn, and know more fully? These evenings, designed for professional educators, teachers in training, parents, and artists will demonstrate the basic changes that picture-making can reveal appropriate to the stages of child development. All of these evening workshops include drawing by participants, but no experience is necessary.$25 each (seniors / students $20 each)$60 for all three
The Beginnings of Drawing-The Early YearsTuesday, January 27, 2015, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
This evening workshop will trace the early stages of children's drawing from scribbles to basic figurative representations and demonstrate how such picture-making encourages specific brain patterning and ways of thinking. With lecture-demonstration and hands-on drawing exercises, you will experience how "growing" pictures is the easiest way to teach children (and adults) to draw and is a technique most consistent with the reality of what we actually see in the world.
Elementary Drawing-After the Nine Year ChangeThursday, January 29, 2015, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
With the changes of pre-adolescence and the middle school years, drawing too begins to change. Greater attention to detail and the challenges of proportion and spatial perspective become important. Drawing from the whole to the parts is replaced by drawing the parts to form the whole. In this workshop, a closer look at these changes will be practiced with attention to figure and object drawing in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.
Further Perspectives-Drawing for the AdolescentTuesday, February 3, 2015, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
At the threshold of adolescence, drawing goes through a further enhancement appropriate to the teenager. Technical drawing and the use of line, which was avoided in the early grades, must now be fully exercised by means of perspective constructions, geometric drawing, and contour line drawing. In addition all the possible drawing techniques can be practiced as counter measures to the limitations of line drawing. The experience of light and darkness is a powerful drawing medium at this age as is the expressive use of color.
Weekend Mandala Workshop with Van James
Introduction to the Art of Mandalas: A Creative Centering of the Self
Friday, January 30, 6 - 9 pm and Saturday, January 31, 9 am - 4:30 pm
The mandala creates an enclosed "essence container," or sacred space, which traditionally represents the self within the universe. It is an emblematic expression in both Eastern and Western spiritual-artistic traditions used for visualization, self-realization, meditation, and initiation. Hildegard von Bingen, Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, and the 14th Dalai Lama, all created mandalas and worked with the remarkable power to fashion a center of positive activity within the greater universe. This workshop will consider the worldwide phenomena of mandalas and explore the practical-artistic aspects of this unique form through drawing exercises, culminating in the creation of one's own individual mandala. No artistic experience is necessary.$110 ($85 seniors / students) Registration opens December 1strudolfsteinercollege.edu/registration
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