Heavy Meta

Education + Art = Necessary

These are pictures in the running for the Re:Form School in New York. If selected it could be a part of a show to try and communicate how important including arts in schools is to everything.

Education reform is something I am REALLY passionate about, so although I got started fairly late for this contest I was able to churn these out relatively quickly, and will probably finish the other two pieces that never made it past the paint-sketch phase. I want to think a lot more about this topic, spend more time with it, particularly since Research Club is starting to pick up momentum.

Boiling Kettles

I'm working out this idea I had the other night. It seems there are two forces at work, when it comes to making things. There's the spark of one's creative energy, and there's the resulting bubbling of ideas. The trouble is, these two things are asynchronous.

Me, I have clear and wonderful energy first thing in the morning, but it takes a few hours for my brain to catch up. If I have art time before work most of what I do is sit at my desk and push pieces of paper around, or test out different brushes, or draw a bunch of circles. I am working -- I'm warming up -- but I rarely produce anything that I want to take to completion at that time. It's like I've turned on the burner to "high", but the kettle is still cold, and it takes a while to get going.

As the day goes on I sort of plateau as far as the creative energy goes -- I'm forced to focus on other things -- but the brain REALLY takes off. By mid-day I am almost boiling over with ideas. Take the kettle off the burner, turn the burner off, don't want to WASTE energy. When I get home I have a list of things to do, but the creative energy is cooling down. By evening the creative energy is pretty cold, but the brain is still going, and I have to really struggle to focus on the less-interesting-yet-very-important things like eating dinner. I tend to read a lot at night if I am up late, because it's hard for me to work after dark but I still have brain-bubbling to use up.

I think a lot about well-being and How To Be At Your Healthiest And Happiest, so this non-congruent line graph of creative energy and brain energy has been really fascinating to me. It's important to create an environment that is conducive to making things, so that it isn't a struggle to create things at the precise moment you feel like you need to. But it's just as important to pay attention to your own energy rhythms and use them to your advantage. And, whenever possible, to schedule your life around them, so you aren't up to your elbows in paperwork when really you need to be making kites or whatever it is you need to do.

I know it isn't always possible, but it's a good goal to have.

I was thinking about all this when I went to Anthony's class on Dewey today. Without saying anything in particular, we created an environment for creation to take place, setting out construction paper, magazines, crayons and gluesticks. And everyone blew me away with the wonderful pictures they made. Everyone's kettle seemed to be boiling quite nicely.

I've been sort of scarce here. I know it. It's been hard to stay inside and paint. Partly it's because it's been desperately, unbearably hot in here. But then that's no excuse, since what work I've been doing can be done outdoors.



The latest heatwave makes even THIS impossible though. But now it's week three, which is sometimes a fat week, and I have some leftover funds to hide out in the gently air conditioned cafes. So that's a relief.

Then there's the classes.



For the last three Saturdays we've been heading over to Research Club headquarters. We set up chairs, put tea in the little box next to the sugar, get the teapot going, get the various screens connected to each other. And then we put Anthony behind the desk and let him do his thing.



It's been a treat to listen to this version of all his years of learning. And it's been a treat for us to be able to share his brain with people who are genuinely interested. We've got five classes left in the series and they just keep getting better. I don't know what we're going to do with our Saturdays once they are over with.

What Philosophy Can Do For Art

Exciting news from Research Club. Starting this Saturday Anthony will be teaching a lecture series on Philosophy, Art, and in what ways the two speak to one another.

You can find more information here.

Class Schedule:

Every Saturday From July 31st to September 25, 2010
11 AM - 12:30 PM
215 SE Morrison, Suite 2020, Portland, OR

*** FREE Introductory Class -- July 31st, 11 AM ***

Classes are taught in pairs, so you can try out two at a time if you don't want to sign up for the whole thing at once. But if you do, you get a further 10% off the whole thing. Oh man!

$5 / $10 per class (higher cost is if class is not filled -- so bring your friends!)