Presented By:
Christian Hitsch and many others
Days: 3
August 1st - August 3rd
Time:
Friday, 7pm–8:45pm; Opening Session; Saturday, 8:30am–9pm; Sunday, 8:30am–12:30pm
Price:
$135 through July 3; $145 July 4–25; $160 at the door. Online registration closes July 25.
Meal Options:
Pre-register to guarantee meals. Breakfasts (Sat–Sun) two: $17.00; Lunch (Sat only): $14.75; Dinner (Fri Only) $14.75; (Sat Only) $14.75; Boxed lunch to go (Sun): $10.00.
Registration Notes:
Online registration closes July 25, Registration check-in: Friday, August 1, 5:30–7pm
MERCURY STANDING IN THE BALANCE
T
he Genesis and Task of the Anthroposophical Art Impulse
Co-Sponsored by the Art Section of the School of Spiritual Science
Christian Hitsch, keynote lecturer
Workshop presenters:
David Adams, Bert Chase, Patricia Dickson, Carrie Gibbons, Brian Gray, Christopher Guilfoil, Michael Howard, Van James, Ted Mahle, Patrick Stolfo
Dear Fellow Artists
There are many things happening in the world of art . As anthroposophists and artists we have a responsibility to explore together how we can hold the core of what Rudolf Steiner brought as the anthroposopohical artistic initiative and bring it forward to the 21st Century. This event will allow us time to explore together artistically and hold conversations in smaller groups to see how each of us can play a role in bringing these impulses to life.
“I have therefore come to believe that the world’s ecological balance depends on more than just our ability to restore balance between civilization’s ravenous appetite for resources and the fragile equilibrium of the earth’s environment...In the end, we must restore a balance within ourselves…” Al Gore, Earth in the Balance, 1992
As the pace of global civilization only accelerates, our human capacity to maintain inner and outer balance, harmony and wholeness seems ever harder to achieve. Already in 1907, Rudolf Steiner introduced practical examples of a new direction in the visual arts that serve the contemporary human need to develop our capacity to live in balance with all people and the living earth as a whole.
With reference to Rudolf Steiner’s phrase, “Mercury standing in the balance,” Christian Hitsch will describe Steiner’s own artistic accomplishments as the basis for elaborating Steiner’s vision for ways the arts can serve the spiritual needs of our time.
“For it is humanity’s mission on earth to transform the planet artistically." Rudolf Steiner, The Royal Art in a New Form, January 2, 1906
Christian Hitsch, Master artist, craftsman and architect, adept in many mediums; his masterworks are inspired by his deep connection to anthroposophy; co-founder of the school for Goethean Studies in Anthroposophy, Sculpture, and Pedagogy in Vienna; among his outstanding achievements are 16 years as leader of the Art Section for the School of Spiritual Science and the task to redesign and renovate the main hall of the Goetheanum according to the indications of Rudolf Steiner. Currently on staff at GMBH Architects, Switzerland.
Time: Friday,
August 1
7pm–8:45pm; Opening Session; Saturday,
August 2nd
8:30am–9pm; Sunday,
August 3rd
8:30am–12:30pm
Please note:
4:00pm Friday, August 1, Class Lesson #5 for Members of the School of Spiritual Science. Blue Cards required.
7:00pm Sunday, August 3, presentation by Christian Hitsch on the Genesis and Task of the Art Section for any Section Member of the School for Spiritual Science. No Blue Cards required.
Workshops: 2:30–3:45pm and 4:00–5:30pm
1) An Experience with Social Sculpture
Working with this relatively new approach to a "social art," we will engage in a number of artistic, aesthetic, and social exercises including practices to enhance perception, gather or transform substances, and consider movement and archetypal forces, ideally leading to performance of an improvised group social-sculpture art work.
David Adams, PhD, taught art history at Sierra College since 1996 ; former Waldorf teacher; occasional performance artist; edits and writes for the Art Section Newsletter; Secretary/Treasurer of the Council of the Art Section in North America.
Carrie Gibbons, MA, Social Sculpture, Oxford Brookes University, U.K.; currently a doctoral candidate in Transpersonal Psychology, Sophia University, CA; researcher in social sculpture; and faculty member of the Social Therapy Program, Camphill California.
2) Looking Forward, Looking Back: An Exploration of the Architrave of the 1St Goetheanum
A collaborative working on the conference theme of “Balance” through entering into the world of formative forces in modeling the movements of the architrave and utilizing imaginative exercises.
Bert Chase, MA, Architect, joined the Emerson College Architect’s Group in 1973; teacher, lecturer, and writer on Rudolf Steiner’s impulse for the arts; architect practice based in Vancouver, Canada.
Patricia Dickson, MA, Art and Psychology, Director of Visual Arts, RSC; two decades as an arts faculty member with an emphasis on clay sculpture.
3) Drawing Rudolf Steiner’s Planetary Seals
As one draws the planetary seals it is possible to experience artistic metamorphosis as the creative deeds of Spiritual Beings. Transforming the Mars Seal into the Mercury and Jupiter Seals are explored as seeds of future impulses for anthroposophical art.
Brian Gray, BArch and MLArch, Director of Foundation Program in Anthroposophy, RSC, faculty member for 33 years; research includes sacred architecture, star wisdom, music, cosmic evolution, spiritual streams, and esoteric Christianity; author, Discovering the Zodiac in the Raphael Madonna Series.
4) The So-Called Slanted Drawing Technique
An exploration of the artist’s creative freedom in relationship to the fullness of qualities found within light and dark drawing. The intention is to focus upon the intensification of one's own activity of drawing.
Christopher Guilfoil , Waldorf class teacher, high school teacher, art teacher, adult educator, mentor and public speaker; international teacher and mentor in Waldorf schools and teacher training programs, especially in China, Taiwan and Malaysia, and conducts seminars and visual arts workshops.
5) An Introduction to Light Art
A consideration of what Rudolf Steiner had to say about light as an artistic medium. There will be a demonstration of how light can be used to make Light Music, as well as the opportunity for participants to try it out for themselves.
Michael Howard, sculptor, painter and artistic researcher; explores themes such as creating visible speech and visible music, most recently with the medium of light to create Light Music; editor, Art as Spiritual Activity, and author,
Educating the Will; currently researching a new book with the working title, In Metamorphosis, on the role art has played in shaping human consciousness.
6) Polarity, Metamorphosis, and Balance: Color Dynamics in the Goetheanum Cupola Paintings
The 1st and 2nd Goetheanum ceiling paintings exhibit a unique presentation in color contrasts, mediations, and harmonies that we will explore by way of observation, conversation, and artistic practice with pastels.
Van James, graduate San Francisco Art Institute, Emerson College, and Goetheanum Wagner School of Painting; Honolulu Waldorf High School art teacher; editor, Pacifica Journal; chairman, Anthroposophical Society, Hawai’i; award winning author, including
Spirit and Art and The Secret Language of Form, and most recently,
Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart: Learning the Natural Way to Draw.
7) Pastel Drawing: The Four Elements
Rudolf Steiner suggested a threefold path for the color artist: color, form and motif–working “out of the color” and then as the colors deepen and overlap, form flows out, and culminates in the motif. We will apply these principles with pastels in a dynamic scene of Earth, Water, Air and Fire.
Ted Mahle, BS, Art Education; graduate Beppe Assenza Painting School at the Goetheanum; 3 years painting therapist, Sonnhalde Schulheim Curative Home; Director of the Arts Program at the Rudolf Steiner College for 20 years; currently teaching painting and drawing at Rudolf Steiner College.
8) From Intention, to Gesture, to Form
An exploration, in clay sculpture, of how an invisible, essential motif or quality can become the impetus for movement, and brought to rest again in tangible expression by the artist. Inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s Representative of Man, we will practice the aesthetic intensification of what lies enchanted within the natural human form.
Patrick Stolfo, BFA, graduate sculpture training at Emerson College under A. John Wilkes, and MA in Waldorf Ed.; Waldorf School educator since 1978 in sculptural arts, art history, and architecture; and currently faculty member at Alkion Center, Hawthorne Valley and at Antioch University and the Center for Anthroposophy.
Please note:
4:00pm Friday, August 1, Class Lesson #5 for Members of the School of Spiritual Science. Blue Cards required.
7:00pm Sunday, August 3, presentation by Christian Hitsch on the Genesis and Task of the Art Section for any Section Member of the School for Spiritual Science. No Blue Cards required.
