Autumn/Winter 2018 Art Section Newsletter Now Online

Click Here for the Newsletter

Seminar with Dennis Klocek and Pamela Whitman in Fair Oaks, California

Here is a link for more information:

Upcoming Weekend with Michael Howard in Portland Oregon

The Death of Ted Mahle

Theodore (Ted) Clyde Mahle
b. January 14, 1940
d. December 9, 2017 (10:00 A.M.)

Biography

             

Raised on a dairy farm in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Ted sketched the countryside around him. At age 16 he studied art for a year with Conrad Roland, a well known artist from Kempton. He graduated from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Art Education. Then he worked for 7 years as a graphic designer in New York City, while attending evening classes in drawing, illustration and design at the School of Visual Arts.

After taking the Foundation Year in Anthroposophical Studies at Emerson College, England, Ted studied German and speech-formation at the Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, for 2 years. He completed a 3-year painting training, according to Rudolf Steiner's methods, with Beppe Assenza at the Goetheanum Painting School in 1976 (ERES MFA Equivalent), and was a teaching assistant in the school from 1975 to 1978. For 3 years he was employed as a painting therapist at Sonnhalde Schulheim Curative Home, Gempen, Switzerland, working with all ages from early childhood to adults.

Returning to the US, Ted directed the Arts Program: “Renewing the Art of Painting,” a year-long morning course at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California, from 1982 to 2003, as well as teaching many other art classes. From 2003 to 2005 he taught art at Davis Waldorf School. Travels to see the great visual art works of the world, in their original environment, formed the basis for art history studies

Upcoming Art Section Conference in Dornach Nov. 17 - 19

Spring-Summer 2017 Newsletter Available Online

Link to Read the Art Section Newsletter

Whitsun Workshop 2017 in Portland Oregon

Christopher Ritson: 2017 Honolulu Biennial Artist by Van James

Many people look at the Honolulu Waldorf School and think it's a kind of art school because so much art is offered. But the truth is that HWS has just as much focus on the math and sciences, languages and humanities as other schools (if not more), but it matches those subjects with many different artistic disciplines, providing a balance or counter weight to the academic school day. In fact, many of the HWS graduates go into fields completely unrelated to art; they just take a creative, can-do artistry to their choice of direction and career.

So it is a great pleasure when one of our alumni chooses a career in the highly competitive and unusually challenging world of Post-modern Art. Christopher Ritson (Class of 2004) is one of the 22 invited artists showing at the first Honolulu Biennial, between March 8 and May 8, 2017. This is quite a prestigious honor for this young artist.

However, Chris was something of an unlikely candidate for the art world when he was finishing high school. Although gifted at drawing and painting it was looking like he was going to be on a science track. His senior project was a large self-sustaining, eco-friendly aquarium, built from the ground up. But he decided to go to the San Francisco Art Institute and he became known for his unique blend of science and art. His artwork is actually more like freeform scientific research than an art project. And his present exhibit at the Biennial involves living organisms, or what he calls bio-generative artwork.

The Corallinales, Chris’ exhibit, can be described as living paintings growing in two aquarium tanks under artificial light. Coralline algae have been scraped from ocean trash collected from the Honolulu Harbor, Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head, and from the surf break where Ala Wai Canal, an artificial and controversial waterway, flows into the Pacific Ocean. The algae are placed in a supportive environment for the corallines to thrive on glass and plastic debris, allowing them to produce a range of red, pink, grey and mauve abstract images. Over the two months of the exhibition these coralline algae paintings will literally grow into pictures.

The senior class of HWS was fortunate enough to have a guided tour of The Hub, one of the Biennial’s several venues around town. Chris Ritson came in especially to talk to the Class of 2017 about his work. Every 9^th grade studies the history of art up to the 17^th century but it is in 12^th grade that Modern and Post-modern Art are studied. So the Biennial visit fit right into the 12^th grade’s curriculum and they got to see one Waldorf graduate’s path of uniting his interest in both the sciences and the arts.

It is interesting that Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, made the following prediction over a hundred years ago, right at the beginning of Modern Art, well before the advent of Post-modern, Conceptual Art: “I believe that the significant factor in … attempting to understand the concept of art, is that an art of the conceptual will come about in which the work and activity of ideation will be fulfilled with images, with reality, and that what now appears as dry science will in the future come closer to art.” The work of Chris Ritson certainly bears out this prediction.

My Development in the Visual Arts by David Adams

Although I am now (2016) 67 years old, it is only in the

last few years that, in addition to being an art historian

and art theorist, I have begun to think of myself as a visual

artist – primarily in ”newer” mediums like performance art,

installation, and visual music (“light art”). However, a request

for me to write my “artistic biography” leads me to realize that

I have been involved with related “artistic activities” off and

on for decades. There have been many diverse aspects to my

life, and it is sometimes difficult (also for me) to find a clear

continuity through it all, but here I will undertake a selective

review from the point of view of "myself-as-a-creative-artist."

Read the complete essay with photos by clicking here...

Alkion Center Course Weeks for Summer 2017 - Enroll Now

Go to www.alkioncenter.org for details and registration forms, 

or contact us at 518-672-8008 or info@alkioncenter.org   

Week I – June 18 to 23

•                History through Music w/ Eric G. Muller

•                Early Childhood: Voice and Lyre Music w/ Channa Seidenberg

•                Early Childhood: Festivals for Young Children w/ Andree Ward

•                Eurythmy | Veil Painting | Sculpting the Human Head in Clay

Week II – June 25 to 30

•                Bringing Mathematics to Life in the Classroom w/ Marisha Plotnik

•                Introduction to Early Childhood Ed. with Felting Crafts w/ Andree Ward

•                Color Environments & Lazure Wall Painting w/ Robert Logsdon and Sara Parrilli  

•                Meditation and Color | Wood or Stone Carving | Lazure Project

Week III – July 9 to 14

•                Leading with Spirit: The Art of Administration and Leadership in Waldorf Schools  w/ Mara White, Lisa Maher, & Staff

February Conference in Portland, Oregon

For More Information and Registration:

Matt Burns: 503.501.1415

burnslikeafire@gmail.com

Fall/Winter Newsletter Now Available to Read Online

Click on this link to read the newsletter

Past newsletters are available to read

on the right: Scroll down to see the list. 

Jennifer Thomson August Art Retreat

Jennifer Thomson Summer Painting Retreat

Workshop with Van James in the Philippines

Spring-Summer 2016 Newsletter Now Posted

Link to Newsletter PDF

Click on Flyers Below to Enlarge or Print

Alkion Center at Hawthorne Valley, NY

2016 Summer Intensives

Tuition reduction for early enrollment by June 1.    

Week I, June 19 - 24

A five day morning block:

Evolution of Human Consciousness through Art 

    w/ Patrick Stolfo

Electives for the remainder of the day:
                                                                                                     

Modeling the Human Head in Clay w/ Patrick Stolfo
Veil Painting with Martina Muller

Week II, June 26 - July 1

Bringing History to Life and Its Role in the Waldorf Curriculum

w/ Karl Schurman

Elective open workshops from 10:30 am - 5 pm:

Metalworking L. Damian / Painting M. Muller / Sculpture P. Stolfo

Visit www.alkioncenter.org for more info. and registration

Landscape Painting Retreat

August 26 -29

Experience Nature through Art with Jennifer Thomson

The landscape Retreat is about change; experiencing another way of working.  It isn’t a ‘how to” retreat.  It is a time to explore new color exercises, ideas and playfulness.  Sometimes one has to walk through ugliness to see anew.  Sometimes we have to stretch further in art to find a new approach to our way of working.

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 Mornings for example, explore a fall exercise:  Tint paper orange in areas creating a color mood.  Bring colors: reds, yellows, and blues to wakefulness in veil painting technique.  Balance colors compositionally.  Find an inward glow of light.  Use greys and black to enhance the glow.  White in gesture for trees …what next?

Afternoons, inspired by John Marin’s (1870-1953) & Emil Nolde’s(1867-1956) art, exercises of their techniques & composition will be practiced and applied to our own artwork.

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Work space:  Sun Studio & outdoors into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to experience Nature through direct observation.

Daily class:  9 am to 4:30 pm

Tuition:  $275 includes 4 organic veggie lunches, snacks & supplies

Deposit:  $75 nonrefundable, to reserve a space

Accommodations:  www.crestonecolorado.com      www.crestoneeagle.com

Camping:  5 minutes driving from Sun Studio

Info:  Jennifer Thomson, PO Box 894, Crestone, Colorado 81131
 719-937-7694

Sunstudio.thomson1@gmail.com            www.jenniferthomson.net

Come join us in Colorado 2016!

2^nd Annual Visual Arts Intensive—

Painting and Drawing for Teachers,

Educators, and Parents

with Van James

Sunday, June 12 to Friday, June 17, 2016

Honolulu, Hawai’i

                                                                                              

This six-day drawing and painting retreat for teachers, artists, therapists and parents will take place from Sunday morning, June 12 to Friday afternoon, June 17, 2015. The course will look at how children first learn to draw and paint and how to best promote these arts with techniques and lessons appropriate to the developmental stages of the child. A Waldorf approach, appropriate to any educational setting, will be utilized with special attention to Rudolf Steiner’s ideas and the latest research on child development in connection with the arts.

Due to the special nature of Hawai’i and its spirit of place, these intensive classes will be held mornings only so that participants can have their afternoons free. All artistic sessions will be held at the Honolulu Waldorf School, Makai Campus, 5257 Kalaniana’ole Highway, 96821, in an ocean-side art studio. The school is located on a bus route and a selection of restaurants is located directly across the street.      

Registration Form

Name:

Email:

Phone:

Address:

Payment:                                                                                                                                                Date:

The fee of $350 includes two sessions per day for six days, all materials, and refreshments at break times. An Early Bird fee of $300 is good until April 15. A full refund is provided until May 1, 50% until May 15, no refunds thereafter. Checks payable to: Van James.

All housing and meal arrangements are the responsibility of individuals and are not included or arranged by the Arts Intensive. (Package deals from the internet, including air, hotel, and car, will likely be the most reasonable option.)

For any further questions please contact Bonnie at art4hawaii@gmail.com or 808-395-1268. Honolulu Waldorf School, Att: Bonnie, 5257 Kalaniana’ole Highway, Honolulu, HI  96821  USA