Upcoming Art Lectures and Workshops in New Zealand with Van James

The Dynamic Language

of Linear Design:

Meander, Koru, Knot, and Braid

A Drawing Workshop at Taruna College

Friday 4^th April (7-9.00pm)

Saturday 5^th April (9.00am – 5.00pm)

Linear designs such as meanders, korus, knots and braids have held deep significance since prehistoric times.  Their rhythmic forms and patterns indicate a journey of transformation and empowerment for the one who successfully masters the secret language of their design.  Labyrinths, mazes, and encircling mandalas, all are iconography of artistic and spiritual power, used for concentration, visualization, meditation and the journey of self-realization.  In this workshop we will practice simple knot and meander form drawings as a basis for creating more complex interwoven patterns and designs. In this way we will explore the wonderous visual language of dynamic linear form drawing. No drawing experience necessary.

Van James, an experienced international art educator based at the Honolulu Waldorf School in Hawaii, will lead this workshop. He is the author of several books on art including Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart.

	This is a course for non-artists as well as those who have artistic experience. No prior skills are needed.
For booking ring: 06 8777174	Course Fee: $120+GST
33 Te Mata Peak Road	Havelock North 4157

Programme:

Friday 4th April
7.00-9.00 pm	Introductory Talk with practical exercises
Saturday 5th April
9.00-10.30 am	Workshop 1
Morning Tea
11.00-12.30 am	Workshop 2
Lunch (Bring your own)
1.30-3.00 pm	Workshop 3
Afternoon Tea
3.30-5.00 pm	Workshop 4

Drawing materials: crayons, pastels and paper will be provided

The Origins and Mysteries of Art

Lecture and Workshop

with Van James

11^th and 12^th April

Friday 7.30 pm, Saturday 1pm-5pm

How and why did people first make pictorial representations? What can we learn about ourselves as contemporary individuals from prehistoric and even ancient Egyptian art? The beginnings of art are a mystery that lies at the very foundation of who we are as human beings and the capacities, such as memory and mental picturing, that we take for granted. The lecture will survey Palaeolithic to ancient Egyptian art while the workshop will explore the art of these periods through pastel drawing.

 

Van James is a Hawai’i based artist, author and teacher with a degree in painting and drawing from the San Francisco Art Institute, USA, and diplomas from Emerson College in England, and the Goetheanum Painting School in Switzerland.  He has been an art instructor at the Honolulu Waldorf School for 30 years and is a guest instructor at Taruna College in New Zealand, and Rudolf Steiner College in California. He is chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Hawai’i and editor of Pacifica Journal. He is also the author of several books on art and culture including Spirit and Art and The Secret Language of Form. His latest book is Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart.

Rudolf Steiner House, 104 Michaels Ave, Ellerslie

Lecture $20, Saturday workshop $50, $60 for both

As places are limited please call Bernadette on 3611368 to register

Mandala

The Art of Centering the Self

Lecture and Workshop

with Van James

28^th and 29^th March

Friday 7.30 pm, Saturday 9am- 1pm

Mandalas are an artistic expression in both East and West, used for visualization, meditation and initiation. The mandala creates an enclosed sacred space, a cosmogram, which represents the Self within the universe. Hildegard von Bingen, Rudolf Steiner, Carl Jung, and the fourteenth Dalai Lama, all created mandalas and worked with their power to fashion a center of energy within the great, universal periphery.  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." The evening lecture will consider the worldwide phenomena of historic mandalas and the workshop will explore the practical-artistic aspects of this sacred form, culminating in the creation of our own individual mandala. The lecture and workshop may be attended separately, but both together are recommended. No artistic experience is necessary. All materials are included.

 

Van James is a Hawai’i based artist, author and teacher with a degree in painting and drawing from the San Francisco Art Institute, USA, and diplomas from Emerson College in England, and the Goetheanum Painting School in Switzerland.  He has been an art instructor at the Honolulu Waldorf School for 30 years and is a guest teacher at Taruna College in New Zealand, and Rudolf Steiner College in California. He is chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Hawai’i and editor of Pacifica Journal. He is also the author of several books on art and culture including Spirit and Art and The Secret Language of Form. His latest book is Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart.

Rudolf Steiner House, 104 Michaels Ave, Ellerslie

Lecture $20, Saturday workshop $50, $60 for both

As places are limited please call Bernadette on 3611368 to register

Enlivening Our Work through the Arts

An evening with VAN JAMES

Wednesday 2nd April, 2014

Michael Park Steiner School, Auckland

In our time when technology increasingly pervades the home and school it is important to be aware of and to help foster the healthy human capacities that children will need for their challenging future.

This hands-on lecture-demonstration is for parents, care givers, teachers, and those interested in how learning is supported through the development of creative faculties by means of the arts.

We will explore the importance of children’s drawings and how they lay the groundwork for skills and faculties such as visual thinking, cognitive feeling (emotional intelligence), and moral imagination. We will focus on basic artistic principles that enhance the learning experience in the early classes and provide a basis for confident and skillful work in the upper school.

Van James is a Hawai’i based artist, author and educator; a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Emerson College in England, and the Goetheanum School of Painting in Switzerland. He teaches art at the Honolulu Waldorf High School and is a regular guest instructor at Taruna College in New Zealand, Rudolf Steiner College in California, and numerous schools and trainings in Asia. He is editor of Pacifica Journal and chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Hawai’i, as well as the author of several books on art and culture including Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart: Learning the Natural Way to Draw.

THE ROLE OF ART

IN EDUCATION

An EVENING WITH VAN JAMES

Wednesday 9^th April, 7.30 p.m.

Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School-- Eurythmy Hall

~Koha requested~

                

                    

In our time when technology increasingly pervades the home and school it is important to be aware of and to help foster the healthy human capacities that children will need for their challenging future.

This hands-on lecture-demonstration is for parents, educators and those interested in how learning is supported through the development of creative faculties.

We will explore the importance of children’s drawings and how they lay the groundwork for skills and faculties such as visual thinking, cognitive feeling (emotional intelligence), and moral imagination. We will focus on basic artistic principles that enhance the learning experience in the early classes and provide a basis for confident and skillful work in the upper school.

Van James is a Hawai’i based artist, author and educator; a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Emerson College in England, and the Goetheanum School of Painting in Switzerland. He teaches art at the Honolulu Waldorf High School and is a regular guest instructor at Taruna College in New Zealand, Rudolf Steiner College in California, and numerous schools and trainings in Asia. He is editor of Pacifica Journal and chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Hawai’i, as well as the author of several books on art and culture including Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart: Learning the Natural Way to Draw.

Upcoming Conference at the Goetheanum

Ascension Conference

Finding Creative Will between Life and Death

Thursday,  May 29^th until Sunday, Jun 1^st , 2014

The Visual Art Section warmly invites you to our Ascension Conference. For the last few years we have focussed our attention on the Will. This year we will concern ourselves with questions related to the forces of life and death in the Will. What is our connection to the phases of life and death, and how does that affect our activity and work as artists? Do we have sovereign Will in our artistic activity? In what way are we led by the laws of the world and by the rules of life?

With these questions in mind we want to connect with our contemporaries. How can we connect with young artists and enter into a healthy exchange? What can we experience and learn from them, and what does the anthroposophical art impulse have to offer the present art scene? What is our relationship with new media like performance art, video, photo, film and other emerging digital technologies?

To introduce such research questions, we have invited a number of capable philosophers, doctors, art teachers and art students. Most especially, we wish to invite young artists and interested people to work with us. Therefore we ask every ‘older’ participant (over 40 years old) to invite and bring along a younger colleague (under 40) artists, art students, and those interested in art. Every ‘older’ colleague is asked to support his young colleague where possible so that no one is prevented from attending the conference because of financial reasons. Where this is not possible the Visual Art Section will try to help as well. So no one is prevented from coming for lack of finances, we urge everyone to donate what they can towards helping others.

More information in the programm.

• Ascension 2014.pdf
• Booking Ascension 2014.pdf

Autumn/Winter Newsletter Now Posted

See the latest Newsletter PDF in the column to the right.

Workshop with Van James in Honolulu

The Role of Art in Education:

Practical Examples and Current Research

A half-day drawing workshop with Van James

Saturday, January 18, 2014  

9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Niu Campus Hall

Honolulu Waldorf School, 350 Ulua Street, Niu Valley

This hands-on workshop is for parents, educators and those interested in how the child learns by means of his/her creative faculties. At a time when technology increasingly pervades education it is important to be aware of what capacities children need to develop. In this workshop we will do children’s drawing exercises that lay the groundwork for skills and faculties such as visual thinking, cognitive feeling (emotional intelligence), and moral imagination. We will focus on basic artistic principles that enhance the learning experience in grades 1 through 3 and the transition stage that occurs for the 9-10 year old. No drawing experience is necessary.

Van James is a Hawai’i based artist, author and educator; a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Emerson College in England, and the Goetheanum School of Painting in Switzerland.  He teaches art at the Honolulu Waldorf High School and is a regular guest instructor at Taruna College in New Zealand, Rudolf Steiner College in California, and numerous schools in Asia. He is editor of Pacifica Journal, and chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Hawai’i, as well as the author of several books on art and culture including Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart: Learning the Natural Way to Draw. He is known locally for his award winning series of Ancient Sites guidebooks.

This workshop is sponsored by Jeff White Associates—

A suggested donation of $30 will benefit the Annual General Fund of the Honolulu Waldorf School.

Space is limited. RSVP-- please call 377-5471 to reserve your place.

Art Dispersal: January 17, 2014

Art - accessible to 100% of people

ART DISPERSAL January 17, 2014     5-8pm

Cedarwood Waldorf School 3030 SW 2nd Ave  Portland, OR 97201

 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?

Free Columbia is an 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 in Portland. http://www.freecolumbia.org/art-dispersal.php

 On Friday January 17 we will open the event with a reception and presentation on Free Culture by Laura Summer, the co founder of Free Columbia.

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 January 17- at the Cedarwood Waldorf School we will present two different, and not necessarily connected, actions.

1. We will make approximately 30 pieces of visual art by New York artist Laura Summer 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 accept donations to support the work of both the Cedarwood Waldorf School and Free Columbia.

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 support the freeing of culture. 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 Cedarwood and 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.

Perhaps you have wanted to live with an original painting, 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.

6 minute video          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoN4uMu2t4k

Comments from previous art dispersals in New York:

Thanks a million. I love looking at the piece every day.

Beginning – not knowing what was happening, middle – it’s working!!! End – a totally satisfying experience, new, social, surprising…making people so happy.

This is amazing! We love being able to own original art. Thank you!

It sort of felt like adopting a baby. A beautiful quiet well behaved baby. It was as if everyone had a painting that was meant for them in the room and they had to find theirs.

Looking at your work makes me think that this kind of activity makes a more lasting impression by being in the house than not because it does form part of our daily life. It weaves itself into our daily imagination and emotions without being prompted by external considerations. It forms part of our daily eyes.  

http://www.freecolumbia.org/

Workshop with Laura Summer: January 2014

Devotional Painting in the 21st Century Drawing from the Face of God             

to draw: to move continuously toward or after a force applied in advance; to extract the essence from...     Webster’s Dictionary

Jan 22/Jan 23

Eugene OR: Wednesday eve 7-9pm and Thursday 9-4

Eugene Waldorf School, Art Building

with Laura Summer

What is devotion? What happens when we devote ourselves to something through painting and drawing? What do we learn about the “object” and what do we learn about ourselves? Can I present an experience for my viewer without pictorial images? How can sacred art be contemporary, an expression of an experience in the present?

As we enter the 21st century, can we find ways to work devotionally in painting? Using a variety of media––watercolor, pastel, collage, ink, crayon, and poetry––we will explore this question. No previous experience is necessary. The techniques we will use are very forgiving and exercises can be worked with at many levels. Both beginners and advanced painters are welcome!

We often start with a contemplation of a cup and a related drawing exercise, then we go on to nature and then to a poem or prayer. No specific religious orientation is used, just the question of how can we devote ourselves to something greater?

Suggested Donation $60-120  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.

Laura Summer is co-founder of the Free Columbia Art Course, a year-long program based on the fundamentals of painting as they come to life through spiritual science. Her approach to color is influenced by Beppe Assenza and Rudolf Steiner, also by Goethe’s color theory. She has been working with questions of contemporary religious art for 16 years. Her work, to be found in private collections in the US and Europe, has been exhibited at the National Museum of Catholic Art and History in New York City and at the Sekem Community in Egypt. She is a founding member of The Experimental Art Collective and Raising Matter-this is not a gallery.

Registration: marciaseymour@q.com  or 541 484-5234

Jennifer Thomson Painting Art Retreats Summer 2014: August 8 thru 12 and August 22 thru 26

Art Convergence 2013 in Philmont, New York

Art Convergence 2013
 
For the past three years Free Columbia, in collaboration with the Arts Section of the School for Spiritual Science, has run a summer conference exploring the relation of current art to spiritual science. This year we have chosen a different format in which to work. In order to deepen the work, a small group of artists has been working during the year investigating descriptions of artistic process. This group will work together in late July and early August on various projects. There will be both individual work and collaborations. During the week of work we will share with each other the dynamics of our artistic process. In the evenings we will offer performances for the public and on Saturday August 3rd we will have a day, open to the public, in which we will invite conversation, presentation and interaction. 

The public day will be on Saturday, August 3 at 84 Main Street in Philmont. We will begin at 10 am but the form of the day will be developed during the convergence week. In some way it will include an exhibit of visual art, conversations and perhaps interactive performances. If you are interested in attending the public day please feel very warmly invited to do so. Donations will be gratefully accepted but there is not a charge for the public events. For more information you may call Laura Summer 518 672 7302. laurasummer@taconic.net
 
84 Main Street Philmont NY 7:30 pm
Schedule of evening performances:
Wednesday July 31, David Adams from Sacramento CA will present: The Artwork and Creative Process of Philp Guston and Robert Motherwell in the Context of the New York School (or Abstract Expressionism)
Thursday August 1, I Manual by Finnish performance artist Sampsa Pirtola
 
Friday August 2, Work with color, light, sound and movement, presented by Nathaniel Williams, Michael Howard and Katie Schwerin and others.
 
Saturday August 3, To be developed during the convergence.  

New Book by Van James: Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart

LInk to the cover of the book

Drawing with Hand, Head, and Heart is a comprehensive and practical guide to the art of drawing

and to the process of visual thinking that is part of our full human intelligence. More than 500 illustrated

exercises and examples, collected and developed over many years of Waldorf classroom experience, show

teachers, parents, and students how to learn to draw simply and naturally, as a child would learn to draw.

The introduction examines contemporary research on brain development and its relationship to learning,

showing how the process of picture-making contributes to the development of visual thinking. An overview

follows of how children learn to draw, and how their visual intelligence can be engaged through age-appropriate

drawing exercises. Many useful examples of form drawing, portraiture, and geometric and perspective

drawing illustrate the art and science of drawing for students of all ages and ability levels. Van James also

provides samples of inspiring blackboard drawings and main lesson book pages for teachers and students, and

includes an informative appendix on therapeutic drawing, a bibliography of resources, and an index.

New Expanded Essay by Van James

Painting Problems: Making Aesthetic Sense of Colour

    by Van James

 Fig. 1. In kindergarten and pre-school children paint for the sheer enjoyment, without the need of a

structured painting “lesson.”

Have you ever heard the complaint, "Why do all the children's paintings look

the same?" If you've asked yourself this question after having viewed the work of

students in the lower grades of a Steiner-Waldorf school (the question rarely

arises with regard to the work of the upper grades) you're not alone. Why is it that

particularly in grades one through four the artistic work done in painting classes

often appears so similar, so uniform? And, is this a problem?

READ WHOLE ESSAY

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