Emerson Visual Arts
News
Click to see newsletter No.2 November 2010
Newsletter No.3 March 2011
Dear alumni and friends of Emerson Visual Arts
and Sculpture Training
The main topic of this newsletter is to share with you the
work, which four alumni are doing professionally in the world.
Each one wrote an article, describing their very individual and different journeys, which they took after completing the sculpture training.
We are very thankful for these contributions, as these reports
can inspire and radiate trust into new and surprising artistic developments of other alumni and students.
Contents:
1. Short Courses for Alumni and Friends 2011 and 2012
2. Fundraising and News
3. The work of the four Alumni
a) Walter Peter (student 1989 - 1992)
b) Laura Wilson (student 2004 - 2007)
c) Robert Stammler (student 1997 - 2000)
d) David Stockdale (student 2003 - 2006)
4. Next Newsletter
1. Short Courses for 2011 and 2012
There are several full-time short courses at the college, which can be taken with the current students in the training
Painting with Martin Gutjahr
30.05.2011 – 22.06.2011 (3 1/2 weeks)
If you want to know more about Martin, see
Portraits work with Fritz Marburg
24.10.2011- 11.11.2011(3 weeks)
More about Fritz see: www.akutso.ch
Pedagogical Term
19.09.2011 – 16.12.2011 (13 weeks)
Artwork with children and youth from class 1 to class 12
Painting with Martin Gutjahr
09.01.2012 – 10.02. 2012 (5 weeks)
Felting with Lilo Marburg
13.02.2012 – 24.02.2012 (2 weeks)
Artistic and practical work with wool. If you want to see more about Lilo’s work go to: www.akutso.ch
Painting with Martin Gutjahr 21.05.2012 – 22.06.2012 (5 weeks)
The costs of the short courses are:
For Alumni £150 per week
For new participants £200 per week
For more details please see short courses
Martin is also offering a painting course in Italy:
“WHERE HEAVEN AND EARTH
PENETRATE EACH OTHER’
A painting course in Umbria (Italy) with Martin Gutjahr.
10-16 July 2011.
Beginners and experienced artists are welcome.
Costs: 560 – 600 Euros (incl. course fees, material, board and lodging). There are reductions possible for students.
For further information contact Martin Gutjahr by mail
Rhürbergstrasse 5, 79639 Grenzach-Wyhlen, Germany
or e-mail: martin.gutjahr@bluewin.ch
Fundraising:
We would like to thank all those who gave donations toward the student support fund. In the current difficult financial times, many students need support for their tuition costs.
If you can make a donation, please send it to:
Donations to: Emerson Visual Arts
IBAN: GB40 MIDL 402009 31577751
Swift Code: MIDL GB 22
For: Student Support Fund
News:
We have created a new A5 leaflet about the Evarts courses.
Please do send us an e-mail or a note if we can send you some leaflets for you to display in your area. Your help and support in publicity about the course is very much appreciated.
In this section four former students speak about the development of their artistic work since leaving the college.
a) Walter Peter (student 1989 - 1992)
b) Laura Wilson (student 2004 - 2007)
c) Robert Stammler (student 1997 - 2000)
d) David Stockdale (student 2003 - 2006)
Walter Peter
Playground Equipment as applied Sculpture.
The time I spent from 1989 through to 1992 at Emerson College whilst training to be a sculptor under the auspices of Rudolf Kaesbach, Michael Monzies, Axel Ewald and John Wilkes was quite an exceptional period in my life. At long last I felt as if I had found a way to unlock that potential slumbering within me. Rudolf urged me to forget my inhibitions and to simply try everything out that came into my head. Thanks to this sound piece of advice, it was as if I was armed with unlimited freedom, so I plunged myself into the task ahead. Although my sights were set on a career as a free-lance, I was sufficiently earth-bound, once I had reached the end of my course, to realise that I wouldn’t be able to get there immediately. I therefore followed up those golden years at Emerson with a post-grad. Teacher-training course at Alanus Art College in Alfter, near Bonn, Germany.
During my training I spent some of my work-experience at a prison-workshop in Bremen. Fortunately they offered to take me on once I had completed my course and so I spent the following 7 years there in charge of my own sculpture studio-workshop, tutoring many adult inmates during that time as well as organising various exhibitions and symposiums. As a rule 10 inmates would be in the studio at the same time, hammering away at their respective blocks of stone. Once started on an artistic project they would without fail have to come to terms with the fundamental fact, that our all our actions inevitably lead to consequences: that with each stroke of the hammer a mark will be left on the stone, which itself will have an effect on the project as a whole.
After this time I was then offered the opportunity to set up a similar workshop for teenage inmates. This project however stretched me to the limit and after a year’s struggle I had just about managed to get it on its feet. In the meantime I had come to realise that prevention is better than cure and that I would far rather invest my time and idealism in helping to develop the young, so that they are better able to cope with the difficulties which lie ahead of them, than spending the rest of my career struggling to patch up those who were already damaged.
It was in 1996 that I built my first play-ground climbing frame for the Waldorf-Kindergarten in Ottersberg. It didn’t take long until further enquiries started to come in and it soon became apparent that I couldn’t continue with my work in Bremen and develop climbing-frames on the side. Once I had decided the time was right to go free-lance, I was free to devote myself wholeheartedly to developing playground climbing structures of a holistic or organic nature, and I soon came to appreciate that the fundamental question behind all my striving was simply how to maximise true play-potential.
Although it was the case in times gone by, in today’s modern western society it is not generally appreciated, what a vital role the world of make-believe actually plays in healthy child-development. It seems to me that the sole parameters along which the vast majority of today’s play-ground equipment is developed, are functionality and cost effectiveness.
However I feel very much that more than this is required in order to create a playing environment, which not only withholds the greatest play potential, but also aids the child in its own process of self discovery. In my opinion, playground equipment which is over defined i.e. looks too much like a ship, a castle, a house etc., actually has considerably less play potential, than equipment which is without any of those basic elements of modern structure: flat surfaces and right angles. If that is so, then the child’s imagination is not put into a straight-jacket, but rather is allowed to develop freely as should be the case. For a child at play, an undefined forked branch can become a multitude of things, just as each individual child so pleases. By giving children climbing frames which help to stretch rather than restrict their imagination, this so vital, but by all accounts diminishing fundamental human ability, can develop and grow to become the valuable asset for adult life it ought to be.
Kinderspielkunst has now been a two-man firm since 2001. As my colleague has a technical background we complement each other admirably. Our firm has been a viable financial proposition for over six years now. Although there is no shortage of work, we have as yet decided against further expansion, as expansion would mean having to let go of part of the production process which we are not prepared to do: we find all parts of the process interesting! At the moment, it being winter, we are out in the woods collecting our material – all of it oak. To be honest we would be prepared to let others prepare the wood for us, as peeling off the bark and sanding down the trunks require heavy manual labour and we’re not getting any younger! On the other hand the highlights are definitely the colouring and the final installation, as it is then that our artistic skills can come into their own.
Over the last decade we have installed well over 150 climbing frames from Switzerland up to the Danish border. In the early years our assignments came mainly from Waldorf institutions, though since we have become better known, this sector now only accounts for about a third of our work.
Between 2006 and 2009 I did a part-time training in Bothmer-Gymnastics. I have found that learning to increase my awareness of the three dimensions within my own body has been a great asset to my work and I can wholeheartedly recommend this training to others working in the field of sculpture.
Walter Peter, Bildhauer, Ottersberg, N. Germany
For more information and pictures
about Walter Peter's work see:
www.kinderspielkunst.de
www.mauern-oeffnen.de
From July 2007 - 2009, I designed and created urban water sculptures for projects in Europe, Asia and America with the landscape architecture firm, Atelier Dreiseitl - www.dreiseitl.com in Ueberlingen, Germany.
I had my first solo art exhibition 'Inner Landscapes' in Mannheim, Germany (from 24 April - 4 June 2010). I had 4 months to prepare and create 28 new pieces (a large accomplishment in and of itself). The artist statement is included below.
I am currently preparing another show for the end of summer 2011 and looking into other opportunities to exhibit as well as to work in collaboration with other artists. My intention is to develop and create public art works in collaboration with community and/or other artists.
Inner Landscapes - Within Us and Around Us
We are in a constant dialogue with our environment and with nature. This includes the interaction with the structures we create, our relationship with the land and connections to the people around us. It is a misconception that the world is separate from us as individuals. More apt is this that we are individuals projecting our own understandings into the world.
Two mediums are juxtaposed. Paintings created on canvas and wood show abstract landscapes. This is contrasted by figural sculptures, formed from metal, wire, light and photographs.
The emphasis of the torso motif is used to symbolize the human form as an object of fascination, beauty, and entrapment. It is made transparent to illuminate the inner potential of the human heart and illustrate the mystery, wildness and beauty of what lives inside. Allowing the viewer to see into an inner reality usually hidden within the outer shell of the human body, the viewer is asked to reflect upon their own inner landscape – what treasure is held within? Do you freely recognize your own inner landscape? Is it trapped inside, held there by fear? Are you able to respect and nurture that symbol or unspoken landscape in another? Do you merely limit yourself to see only the physical barrier of the body?
There is a freedom in the landscapes of the mind that allows for a fluidity of form and colour. The series of triptychs provide a window into the artist's own imagery. The process of putting paint on canvas can reveal interesting colours and imagery that are often times surprising in their discovery. By being open to exploring our inner landscapes we can tap into our unique expression. The inner landscape we carry within us is the essence of what we create in the world around us. Each of us can begin to more consciously play an active and creative role in this process by creating a space for our inner voice to be expressed.
This multidimensionality – inside and outside, a history - past, present and future, how it affects us and how present we can be to shape what will happen in the future is what is being shown in this installation.
These works can be seen at www.lauraawilson.com
MY ART OF TEACHING – at Potsdam Waldorf School (Germany)
Why should I bother trying to teach children the mystery of art? If they are not interested they shall do their maths and I do art on my own – the results will be much more pleasing anyway!
But they are interested. Even more: they are very interested in working artistically in all kinds of artistic areas!
What costs my energy as a teacher is not the work with the pupils but the ongoing lobbying in the teaching staff in order to stop the next attempt of rationalizing in the field of “not so necessary” subjects – like art. The pressure from outside is raising constantly to be top in results and to comply with the standards governments hatch. Art doesn’t aim at training a child only supports it in becoming a true human being. In that perspective art is luxury.
This wide spread materialistic approach to education reflects a part of reality that we as waldorf schools especially have to struggle with more and more. Children had less and less contact with nature, experiences with real matter in general and encounters and inspirations that go beyond the pure practical, intellect based rational when they come to school. This means that the realm of art in its widest sense is not particularly familiar to them. Even worse: features that belong to the category of quantity are nowadays often used as qualities (brands, how much things cost, how powerful devices are, ...) so that a true sense for quality is being more and more lost.
It is without any doubt that the pupils nowadays carry within their backpack of personal circumstances and conditions a heavy burden of civilisationary miss-developments. That makes it e.g. more and more difficult for us every year to form our class 1 – although we get many more applications than we can admit pupils. More and more children lack the ability to concentrate and get involved with the work they are doing. Parallel to them missing the contact with matter and real, natural things they instead get lost more and more in front of the computer or play station. They know less and less what to talk about with each other (except for movies and computer games) and are overtaxed by situations when they have to develop a strategy to keep themselves busy when there is no program offered from outside. They are not used to experience awe and allow themselves to being touched by circumstances any more. Instead, the head quickly interferes, relativises or explains everything. They grow up in a world where everything can be bought and exchanged.
What makes teaching so exciting is that on the other hand children and young adults long to be met more urgently than ever before, it seems. Not just seen and given tasks to but properly met from individuality to individuality. This makes teaching in front of a whole class more and more difficult. But this is also a reason why working through the medium of art becomes more and more important. In the setting of an art and crafts class it is much easier to meet very individually and to be able to say the one very personal word that the child was waiting for to hear.
And even more: one works with a medium that allows the children to speak the truth that lies inside themselves and couldn’t find the right way of expression. Furthermore through art the children are able to touch a truth that lies beyond the every day, a truth that has no space in normal life but is unconsciously sensed by them. Through the help of art they are allowed to become active in a realm of qualities that one can’t easily work with any more: The qualities of the life forces, the emotions and the secrets of form as such. And although the tendency is to push away the subjects that are not “necessary” – like art – the children very strongly feel the need to work artistically and with real matter in context of real human interchange.
This longing for receiving space and help to being able to realize the “tasks” one came down on earth with I try to meet in a context that my school develops: In project blocs where pupils are invited to break up the conventional barriers between the subjects and to work on themes and in contexts that have no space at schools normally. We had very good projects concerning the German history (Nazi and Socialist) with touching visits to historical places and encounters with inspiring people, we have projects concerning nuclear energy, world religions, politics, pupil initiated development projects and many more. With the German teacher, I myself formed heads in clay and wrote short stories inspired by questions about the archetypal human qualities from out of the “Faust” bloc in class 12 – which was very exciting. I constructed and build a bench for the school grounds with students, build two beautiful (proof and working!) canoes, a big flow form, that fascinated the pupils immensely (my grateful thanks and greetings to John Wilkes!) and introduced the concept of “Open Atelier”.
The latter I enjoy the most because it invites students to come with their own ideas in the context of sculpture and carpentry – and they do come! In these blocs I have pupils building shelves, forming human and animal sculptures, different therapeutic pieces and metamorphosis´ (one for example with the title “Separation – and then?”), one carving a huge female torso, build an exquisite living room table, design a lamp, a longbow, repairing frames for inside a beehive – and this is by far not half of it. In common they have the enthusiasm and excitement for their very personal task that lies close to their heart. And in the end the pride and satisfaction that they have achieved it, that they created something that totally makes sense for them and that is a benefit for the (their) world. For who are we teachers to tell them exclusively what is of importance to them and their future life? For myself it was the possibility to build myself a canoe in class 12 that, up till today, stands as a cornerstone in my biography. How many children still have the opportunity to shape the world in the true meaning of the word? Much too many have to realize that no one has time for them and gives them the space and support they need. But children are the future!
Of course I’m also teaching my own interpretation of the classic pallette of waldorf art curriculum, which besides is a very exciting topic taken by itself. But since I’m working at a school that prides itself for being experimental and innovative I want to focus in this article on the aspects of my work that might indeed be slightly different from what is being done in the context of art at waldorf schools elsewhere. Just so much: besides teaching Modelling in class 5 (Animals) up to class 8 (scenes from ballads, e.g. “The Pledge” by F. Schiller, which is a very good one to translate into form) I also give classes in woodcarving. Here we start by learning the right use of different tools and carve different small objects in class 5, then go through the well known sequence of spoons, toys and bowls to arrive at shelves and small pieces of furniture in the carpentry bloc in class 9.
The introduction into modern art/abstraction in class 10 seems to make sense and the theme relief is – pedagogically – very fruitful in class 11. (Although, for the last push of enthusiasm and refinement in casting I always miss the humorous unshakable authority of the world famous master of plaster casting, Rudolf Kaesbach).
Only one theme I want to mention a bit more in detail. This is the one which I’m always looking forward to teaching in class 7. Two years ago I started to ask the pupils: which are your Idols? Who do you want to become? In the beginning of the full eruption of puberty and the turmoil in their emotional life they start to search for role models and any save ground they can refer their feelings and longings to. And to be able to write a short story about their Idol, they have to find out now: what does the person actually look like that I want to grow into? Not just the outer appearance and not the actual sports star X, singer Y or actor Z that impresses me. But the person that I myself want to become. What is the quality that wants to be embodied by myself?
Through these stories they are writing I’m allowed to meet the children, to take part in their adoration of true virtues and to stand beside them and stare in their abyss. These are stories like the one of an Idol called Elizabeth who was chosen by the man whom all the women adored and who choose and married her because Elizabeth was truly herself. Or the Inquisitor who “shall not stand for a specific person but is a symbol for myself to help me become a different person. On the one hand I want to portray the good, on the other hand the evil qualities. The person itself shall be raised above all that. One should be able to see how these qualities fight each other inside him while he is untouched by all this.” From the many maybe one more that made me wonder in amazement about the deep inner wisdom that the children carry within themselves and allow us to take part in when we – like Parzival – ask the right question. In this story a boy called Jack finds himself all alone in the world when he comes home from school. His parents got killed by an evil king. Soon he himself is being kidnapped by the kings soldiers and brought to a country “between the two worlds”. There he meets Victoria, a girl who has the ability to heal. But yet she doesn’t know that she is in real a unicorn like Jack himself doesn’t know that he is a dragon.
What magic and powerful images for this age. Images to explain ones own situation in the “between” of dark and light, joy and fear, love and pain and to characterize ones own potentials as a healer and a fire blowing shaper of the world!
But this is just the first step. The second is to shape this dream, to make it real. In our school context this means to model it in clay. And in the course of this searching and awakening there are again and again the most precious moments to meet in one to one conversations, to question and clarify the foggy sense for the role model that lives inside the pupil and wants to find its right shape and expression. The result is often the creation of the most touching and beautiful human figures that carry within themselves a whole cosmos of qualities – potentials of an emerging individuality.
Much more I could write about precious experiences in my school life. The repeated ones like the delight in the eyes of class 5 pupils chopping away on their piece of wood. Or the special ones – like the LandArt projects during a forestry placement and at a class 12 trip to a wild little island in Croatia – or forestry placements in general in which the class 9 “rowdies” find themselves doing something that makes sense and is needed, that is challenging their own limits (endurance, coordination, for some also: to get dirty) and sees them all becoming peaceful and satisfied – or class 12 trips in general with guided experiences of the kind of Andrew Wolpert (thanks and greetings to him!) and the waking up and becoming excited for art by pupils who lived only for shopping and boyfriends before –
One class 11 student told me just a few days ago that he suddenly understood what benefits he got out of the art and crafts classes when (15 years old) he found himself working on a farm for half a year (because he wasn’t able at that time to see any point in going to school). Although this was not a primarily artistic area he now worked in, he found himself being boosted by his art and craft experiences. He was already used to working with tools, being skilled and knowledgeable in how different materials react and having a feeling for the needs of spaces and how to shape things in accordance to their use. Even if he will discover many more reasons still further in the future for the deep and positive impact that working in art and crafts made on him, this was an unexpected and therefore even more important feedback for me as art teacher.
All these experiences and conclusions are a confirmation for me that working through art is even more necessary nowadays than ever before. And this especially with children who are still open and will form the future society. As an unstoppable tendency it seems as if the natural reality withdraws and the reality that occupies the ground instead is a virtual one without being spiritual. The human being is left in a space that is not open but void – filled with the maya of masses of “necessary” goods but emptied of values and meaning. It doesn’t invite us to grow and develop experience and understand in a higher sense but leaves us with no nourishment to shrinking and crumbling inwardly. Against this dying of the earths life forces the best remedy seems to be the reawakening of the childlike playfulness, the sense for awe and wonder and the ability to observe, find the essence and shape and transform the world in countless little approaches towards a resurrected and living organism.
My artistic development since leaving Emerson and arriving back home in Australia has been varied and interesting. The urge /desire/wish to just do art and my commitment to being here for my son Sam in these last four years of his high schooling have been strong ‘forces’ in my life. The insistence of life has kept me busy needing to earn money, learning through action, taking risks and being in flow...or sometimes not.
After arriving back home I moved 400km south to a town on the coast where Sam had recently moved to with his Mum. Sam lives with me 50% of the time and for the last 4 years it has been on a two week, two week turn around. So I had to start earning a living, looking after Sam again and doing my art. I have a large shed where I live...about 12m x 12m.. which I divided in half for a studio space and a workshop space. I virtually started off where I left from at Emerson with my sculpture art work. I worked a lot with clay, spent time in nature...the beaches here are amazing (it’s been tough..) getting a ‘feel’ for the geology energy of this new place. In the first year or two I went to every art thing happening in town and the region and in no time I had a whole bunch of new arty friends. Naturally I filtered through all that to meet people I connected to. It has been a steep learning curve into the art world here and one which I become involved in at times and then other times I pull back and question it all.
I applied ( the application process is intense and challenging) for and won a very important grant from Country Arts WA (govt art body) that was a mentoring grant for regional areas. Only one is allocated per year. It allowed me to have mentoring from a professional well known sculptor from our capital city for the year of 2008. It was a big and busy year. The grant helped pay my travel to Perth and his fees etc for us to meet a dozen times or so. We both enjoyed the process even when we were challenged by each other. He was never sure about my ‘spiritual art’ and philosophising and I wasn’t always that keen on his great art knowledge and ability without acknowledgement of any spiritual/metaphysical understanding. We ...well me anyway... did like the balance between quirky, intellectual, constructed, figurative sculpture and organic, abstract, energetic life forms. He did get me into the habit of doing a lot of sculpture no matter how good it was or wasn’t, encouraging me to draw a lot more, encouraged me to write more about what I do, and to apply for all art competitions, projects, etc, etc in order to build on successes and get used to failure and be immersed in my own art. Total immersion doesn’t always work for me as I have to or need to pull back often with my own questions as to why I am doing ‘art’ and what exactly am I doing, my relationship to the world and what I need for me.
So on the two weeks I have Sam with me I do all stuff I need to with/for him. I work at home in the studio, keep fit, fall in love, organise work etc in Perth 400km away. On the other two weeks I often travel to Perth to do building/reno type work, sculpture work and attend other art talks etc that I can’t do here. I like to earn enough money in that two weeks to keep me going for the next few weeks as well. Often I do so I have plenty of time to do my art. Sometimes it’s been all work and no money and no art. I am better at it now, I know how to earn more money and have more time off. I have big gaps between art time in the studio or art projects. Partly this is me not being sure about art stuff and partly it is me not being proactive enough in the business of it all.
I earn half my money through art projects and half through building work. In the last 10 months or so I have been doing work that uses the skills of both. So I am focussing my business on projects and clients that require that. ie: shires and councils, architects and developers, etc that often need park/street furniture, minor works, etc that are practical, skilled and can have an artistic element to them. I need more time in the studio but that will come as well. I am slowly discovering the work and projects that I like and suit me and that pay well. This has taken longer than I expected but I am often told how lucky I have been or how successful as not many artists are earning well doing art.
I have found that that is not always true. I have found and spoken to many successful artists. There are challenges as with any business however all things are possible. The question is often what is the ‘right’ thing, where do I fit in or want to, where is my ego/Ego in this, etc etc which often clash with how much I need to earn and the urgency of that and being restrained in what will sell now, etc.
As to answering your questions more directly... the training helped me understand and express more about myself, the world I live in and anthroposphy. From that understanding I am finding new ways to survive and/or thrive in the world which has been and is so overwhelming at times for me.
Some of the bridges etc have been meeting good people, being involved in the local art scene where I live, doing mainstream and local art courses, workshops etc to do with business and art development, and also continuing with my own studio work and study as much as possible. Giving talks and presentations helped initially to help meet like minded people and to feel more confident with my own art practice and interests.
Some of the things I did not learn in the training were the business and studio practice side of things. Business is very important these days, particularly as an adult, and no matter what we are doing it takes time to learn and develop a business sense and confidence ...especially in the arts. How to run my own studio and art practice and how to develop that, more often than not on my own, has been a challenge and a constant work in progress. Also I find I have needed some strategies to develop my own themes and interests and to value those interests.
As for any specific things the world has asked of me...I’m not sure. Sometimes what I am doing and why etc seems clear. Other times not at all and I find I pull right back from the art and the world and question it all. I have found that the more I do in the world and even the more I wish to understand of the world then the more I need to know of myself in a conscious way and have a self confidence and strength of Ego that supports me. Now, there’s a challenge...
studiostockdale.com.au/galleries.html
The next newsletter will have the Final Projects 2011 as content and will be available in autumn 2011.
With best wishes for your art, life and work
Rudolf and Isabell
Newsletter No.2 November 2010
Dear Alumni and friends of the Emerson Visual Arts and Sculpture Training
The main content of this 2nd newsletter of EVArts is an impression of the Final Projects 2010 of the 3rd year sculpture students.
We would also like to send you some news of the training in the new college setting.
Working with Contemporary Questions >
Final Projects
Here some ‘taster pictures’ and the students texts, to lead you into the four final projects 2010.
For more pictures of the Final Projects see Students work
Amanda Cid
Welcome To The Stone That Has No Mouth To Cry With was a work shared as part of my Final Project at Emerson College in June 2010. During the exhibition, I had the opportunity to present the thoughts that I had gathered whilst I was creating this Project. Using images and an objective point of view, I attempted to describe how these 9000 stones worked as a sculpture within us. Now I am more interested in echoing the experiences of the visitors.
Here the one from Lindsey Ternent in October 2010:
“At first glance it appears to be a vast sea of chalky chaos. Stone after stone after stone intermingling with the worn wooden floorboards and stark whitewash walls. It's a feeling of looking out over an ancient city. To behold the daily hustle and bustle of civilization.
But once the dust has settled and your eyes adjust to the light it takes on a new face. And that is a face of extraordinary contrast between the individual stationary stone and the swirling, flowing movement of all the stones working together in unison. Then you notice how the distinct straight lines of the floorboards further accentuate this rhythmic gesture.
If you get a chance to sit alone with them, they can become an energy generator for some powerful meditation. The stones sing, they sing in some forgotten language that perhaps Man once understood. But now all we can do is take advantage of this rare collection, this gathering of time and space. Just sit, listen and learn.”
©Amanda Cid 2010
Andrea Donadoni
Could you say a few words about your final presentation of works at Emerson College?
It was quite an experience to see all my work, produced over a period of three years, together in one room. I could see my sculptures for the first time in relation to each other. And I saw certain themes running through my work. Especially with the animals. It was like being in front of a kind of explanation for me. Because in these three years of study I just followed my enthusiasm and my feeling, without looking for any meaning.
The meaning came just at the end of my studies. All these animals together were able to show me my present position on this path of being an artist and they gave me some clear indication for my future.
It became clearer to me how life is able to create perfect proportion.
As an artist you must have to try and find a connection to these life forces. That is what distinguishes us from just being a creature or a co-creator of this world!
©Andrea Donadoni 2010
Now tell me a little about the fish?
The most precious thing of this sculpture is the base!
It took me three times the time I used for making the fish!
First I started to do the fish in sandstone, but I chopped it into two pieces.
And then with a deep feeling of frustration for the loss I started again with a piece of marble.
I did it completely by hand – and it took me a very long time to finish it. Especially because close to the tale, the stone is very thin. So I worked with the hammer, but in a very gentle way!
That meant I had to carve very slowly!
But it was very interesting to see how it is possible to change a very deep feeling of frustration into a feeling of love for something.
And it is a good exercise, because you realize how important it is to take your time to do something.
The interesting thing is that some people, when looking at the sculpture saw a fish and some others saw a bird, depending on where they positioned the head.
And I was very happy about that fact, because in the end that meant that this sculpture is just a movement in space. If you catch this fact, then you can see how life moves independently of its manifestations.
Hiromi Kato
Lines in the garden – straight and round
In front of Pixton, on the big lawn I created a line with hazel sticks and mohair wool, flowing straight through the lawn. I saw the line like a wind in the air.
And on Anne -Marie’s most precious lawn, a curved line tried to capture the gentle space formed by the flowerbed, the tulip tree and the wall.
Land Art:
Become sensitive to space.
Placing with sensitivity.
Sense of balance.
You feel right, when the place is right.
Marc Pecqueur
EXPERIENCING THE SPACE
The entrance invites and excites you for something unknown to go into. The columns are a gate to another world!
When you open the curtain you are at the border of an experiment: you can feel differently the path when you are down, climbing up or standing in the centre.
This space concentrates you, gives movement and peace!
It could be a therapeutic space.
Course News
The new school year has started well with a fine and very mixed group of new and returning students. (Age 18 – 70)
The campus and grounds are well cared for and a good supportive study atmosphere is back at the college.
Other activities are starting to come to the college, next to the trainings and short courses. These are anthroposophical businesses – a craft centre, artist in residence, etc.
Student numbers and countries of origin in the Visual Arts and Sculpture Course
For the year 2010/2011 we have around 25 students, of which 15 students are in the Visual Arts Year and 10 students are in year 2 and 3.
They come from 16 different countries including, Italy (2), England (4), Bermuda, Switzerland (2), Korea (3), Japan (3), Canada, Argentina, Spain (2), China, Belgium, Taiwan, Finland, France and Iran.
Creative work is like an unifying force which weaves between all the different and often quite opposite national backgrounds and habits, In art Anthroposophy can come to life in such a way that each student can build their own individual relation to it.
Our new course:
The Foundation Year in Anthroposophy through the Visual Arts was borne out of this potential of artistic work.
Ann Druit, John Thompson and Robert Lord are supporting the study aspect of the course. The first students have joined the Visual Arts Course out of their need to discover Anthroposophy through the gateway of the Arts.
Alumni Support Fund
Some returning students did need bursaries towards their fees. The Alumni Support Fund has raised the planned first £10,000 through many small and some larger donations. This was almost exactly the amount needed for the bursaries! Donated money is most precious money, as it goes directly to students in need of financial support. It really frees students to concentrate on their studies and artistic work.
In the name of those students, who received financial support, I would like to thank you very much for your donations for the student support fund!
We have now started the second £10,000 fundraising for the student bursaries for the year 2011/2012. Every small or large donation will help students to complete their training.
Donations to: Emerson Visual Arts
IBAN: GB40 MIDL 402009 31577751
Swift Code: MIDL GB 22
For: Student Support Fund
Short Courses for Alumni
Every year some students who have gone through the three-year training, come back for a refresher course. In 2011 we are offering three courses.
with Martin Gutjahr.
Martin is a freelance painter working near Basel. He was also a student in the sculpture course at Emerson.
Full time (5 weeks) from 10.01.2011 – 11.02.2011
Sculpture Therapy Introduction
with Fritz Marburg
Three weeks full time from 14.02.2011 – 04.03.2011
Working with contemporary questions
with Claudia Schluerman
How can we work in a renewed way with three dimensions and time processes?
What and where are the needs of artistic work today?
Installations, art in the social field, etc…
Please contact us at EVArts for more information if you want to join one of the above courses.
The fees will be £180 per week.
The college provides accommodation and lunches.
Looking Ahead
The next newsletter will include text and pictures from the work of some alumni worldwide.
Thank you very much for your support in the recent time of changes at Emerson College.
The Final Project Exhibition 2010 was a festive and artistic event supporting creatively continuity in the new College environment.
With best wishes,
Rudolf Kaesbach and Isabell Schaefer
