Art as Contemplative Practice

Michael A. Franklin

Description

Drawing upon his personal experience as a practitioner-researcher, visual artist, and cancer survivor, Michael A. Franklin offers a rich and thought-provoking guide to art as contemplative practice. His firsthand experience and original artwork complement this extensive discussion by consulting various practice traditions including yoga, rasa and darshan experiences, imaginal intelligence, and the contemplative instincts of select early twentieth-century artists. From this synthesis, Franklin suggests that we treat art as a form of yoga and meditation with the potential to awaken deeper insight into the fundamental nature of the Self. Exercises and rubrics are included that offer accessible instruction for any artist, meditation or yoga practitioner, art educator, or art therapist.
List of Figures, Tables, and Rubrics
Foreword
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Simplified Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide
Abbreviated Glossary of Sanskrit Terms

Part I. Foundations, History, and Imaginal Awareness

1. Art as Contemplative Practice: Beginnings

2. Art as Contemplative Practice: Foundations

3. Snapshots of Western History and Lineage in Art as Contemplative Practice

4. Tasting and Seeing the Divine: Rasa, Darśan, and Art as Worship

5. Imaginal Intelligence and Contemplative Practice

Part II. Concerning the Contemplative in Art as Yoga and Meditation

6. Art as Yoga

7. Art as Meditation

8. Karma Yoga, Ahimsā, and the Socially Engaged Artist

9. Expressive Pathways to the Self

Part III. Exercises and Appendices

Appendix A: Imaginal Mindfulness Techniques, Exercises, and Materials
Appendix B: Core Principles of Art as Contemplative Practice and Accompanying Exercises
Appendix C: Rubrics

Notes
References
Illustration Permissions
Index

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Sport
• Sports fitness
• Sports doux
• Film
• Body
• Mind
• Mindfulness (Buddhism)
• Visual culture
• Película fotográfica
• Mindfulness

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438464343
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Art as Contemplative Practice
Art as Contemplative Practice
Expressive Pathways to the Self
Michael A. Franklin
Foreword by
Christopher Key Chapple
Published by
S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY
© 2017 Michael A. Franklin
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact
State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie D. Searl
Marketing, Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Franklin, Michael A., 1956– author. | Chapple, Christopher Key, 1954– writer of foreword.
Title: Art as contemplative practice : expressive pathways to the self / Michael A. Franklin ; foreword by Christopher Key Chapple.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016031434 (print) | LCCN 2016032158 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438464336 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438464343 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Mysticism and art. | Contemplation. | Art—Problems, exercises, etc.
Classification: LCC N72.M85 F73 2017 (print) | LCC N72.M85 (ebook) | DDC 701/.17—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016031434
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
One never knows when and where the teacher will emerge: For my students who continuously reveal this lesson to me …
Contents
List of Figures, Tables, and Rubrics
Foreword
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Simplified Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide
Abbreviated Glossary of Sanskrit Terms
P ART I: F OUNDATIONS , H ISTORY, AND I MAGINAL A WARENESS
1. Art as Contemplative Practice: Beginnings
2. Art as Contemplative Practice: Foundations
3. Snapshots of Western History and Lineage in Art as Contemplative Practice
4. Tasting and Seeing the Divine: Rasa, Darśan , and Art as Worship
5. Imaginal Intelligence and Contemplative Practice
P ART II: C ONCERNING THE C ONTEMPLATIVE IN A RT AS Y OGA AND M EDITATION
6. Art as Yoga
7. Art as Meditation
8. Karma Yoga, Ahimsā , and the Socially Engaged Artist
9. Expressive Pathways to the Self
P ART III: E XERCISES AND A PPENDICES
Appendix A: Imaginal Mindfulness Techniques, Exercises, and Materials
Appendix B: Core Principles of Art as Contemplative Practice and Accompanying Exercises
Appendix C: Rubrics
Notes
References
Illustration Permissions
Index
Figures, Tables, and Rubrics
Figures Figure I.1. Three Bulbs (X-ray drawing) . Original artwork by the author. Figure I.2. What I Look Like Inside. Original artwork by the author. Figure 1.1. Person doing active drawing (1). Photograph by the author. Figure 1.2. Person doing active drawing (2). Photograph by the author. Figure 1.3. Spanda Impulse . Original artwork by the author. Figure 1.4. Home for Sarasvatī. Original artwork by the author. Figure 2.1. Three Aspects of the Absolute , Bulaki (1823). India. Figure 2.2. Avebury, UK. Photograph by the author. Figure 2.3. Interior—Terracotta House, Villa del Leyva, Columbia. Photograph by the author. Figure 2.4. Exterior—Terracotta House, Villa del Leyva, Columbia. Photograph by the author. Figure 2.5. Clay workshop. Photograph by the author. Figure 2.6. Sign outside Monet exhibit, Musée de l’Orangerie: “Thank you for visiting peacefully.” Photograph by the author. Figure 2.7. Naropa Community Art Studio. Photograph by the author. Figure 2.8. Lily. Photograph by the author. Figure 2.9. Carefully observing spontaneous mark making—fostering insight and concentration. Photograph by the author. Figure 3.1. Panel for Edwin R. Campbell No. 4 . Wassily K. Kandinsky (1914). Figure 3.2. Bird in Space . Constantin Brancusi (1928). Figure 3.3. The World Cow. Franz Marc (1913). Figure 3.4. Suprematist Composition: White on White. Kazimir Malevich (1918). Figure 3.5. Bicycle Wheel—3rd Version. Marcel Duchamp (1951). Figure 4.1. The darśan seat of Bhagavan Nityananda in Ganeshpuri, India. Photograph by the author. Figure 5.1. Horseback riding—Ethyl on the left. Photograph by the author. Figure 5.2. Clay example of concentric circles. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 6.1. Working with clay. Photograph by the author. Figure 6.2. Immanence and Becoming. Florence Cane (1923). Example of Sā ṅ khya-Vedanta iconography. Figure 6.3. Practicing Ku ṇḍ alinī Yoga. Teacher Jo McBride. Photograph by the author. Figure 6.4. Observing the Spanda impulse in Artwork. Photograph by the author. Figure 6.5. Untitled. Mark Rothko (1968). Figure 6.6. Ma ṇḍ ala-like form using nontraditional, found materials. Spontaneously created by graduate art therapy students, Naropa University. Figure 6.7. Chinnamastā Yantra. One of the ten Mahāvidyās or ten Tantric wisdom aspects of the Divine Mother. Original artwork by the author. Figure 6.8. Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi visiting the studio, observing clay ma ṇḍ alas. Photograph by the author. Figure 6.9. Clay pot. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 7.1. Contemplative pedagogy seminar, Naropa University. Photograph by the author. Figure 7.2. Clay pots. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 7.3. Studio, selection of eighty pots. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 7.4. Still Life. Giorgio Morandi (1949). Figure 8.1. Working in Naropa’s Art Studio. Photograph by the author. Figure 9.1. First clay pot about collaborating with emotional scars. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 9.2. Second clay pot about collaborating with emotional scars. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 9.3. Third clay pot about intentionally scarring the clay in order to access hidden emotions. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 9.4. Broken pieces of clay pot that access internal emotions about brokenness. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 9.5. Clay pot about seeing my diseased prostate gland. Hand-built and sawdust-fired by the author. Figure 9.6. Firing clay pots in home fireplace. Photograph by the author. Figure B.1. Recording prā ṇ a/life force. Workshop, Seoul Women’s College, Seoul South Korea. Photograph by the author. Figure B.2. Birthing-Deathing-Resurrecting. Photograph by the author. Figure B.3. Acetate Collage. Photograph by the author. Figure B.4. Working with duality through clay. Workshop, SASANA, Bogota, Colombia. Photograph by the author. Figure B.5. Softening the Sore Spot, rag wiping two colors. Workshop, SASANA, Bogota, Colombia. Photograph by the author. Figure B.6. Softening the Sore Spot—display. Workshop, SASANA, Bogota, Colombia. Photograph by the author. Figure B.7 A B. Befriending inner diversity: Mapping the layers of our interiorized communities. Workshop, SASANA, Bogota, Colombia. Photograph by the author.
Tables Table I.1. Ways of Thinking about Art Table 2.1. Outlining the Tattvas (Categories of “That-ness”) Table 2.2. Studio Dharma Table 2.3. The Five Skandhas Chart and Art Table 4.1. Eight Rasas Table 6.1. Ways of Thinking about Yoga Table 6.2. Example of the Three Gu ṇ as Inherent in the Prak ṛ ti of Art Materials Table 6.3. Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga Table 6.4. The Five Yamas Table 6.5. The Five Niyamas Table 6.6. The Five Primary Forms of Prā ṇ ic Energy Table 6.7. Limbs of Yoga Applied to Forming/Informing/Transforming through Art Table 6.8. The Five Acts of Lord Śiva Table 6.9. Māt ṛ kā Śakti Table 7.1. Types of Meditation Table 7.2. Visual Tonglen Practice Table 8.1. Key Passages Related to Karma Yoga from the Bhagavad Gītā Table 8.2. Art Project Vocabulary: Poisons, Pāramitās, and Immeasurables Table 8.3. A Formula for Creating Community through Art Table A.1. Basic Materials List Table A.2. Design Elements and Principles to Observe in Artwork Events
Rubrics C.1. Imaginal Process Skill Building Rubric C.2. Self-Assessment Rubric for Art Assignments C.3. Art Materials/Process Awareness Rubric C.4. Working with Opposites: Creating Visual Vocabularies Rubric
Foreword
Creativity requires a moment of stillness through which inspiration might be gleaned. We can set the conditions but creativity defies coercion. What factors can make all the ingredients align? From what depth does art arise?
Art requires rhythm, perspective, vision, craft, and bravery. Art must arise from a place of deep honesty, from a place both known and unknown to the artist and to the recipient of the experience. Art as cookery can be smelled and tasted. Art in the form of crockery can be handled and stroked. Art in the form of sculpture or painting or film can be viewed. Art in the form of prose or poetry can be read silently or enunciated through the spoken word. Good art represents an agreed-upon version of cultural reality, recognizable to all. Great art pulls on the heartstrings, revealing hidden truths through honest, mindfully crafted work.
Can art heal? Can art bring laughter, good cheer, wholeness, wisdom? Therapeutic aspects of art have long been known. The good, the true, and the beautiful, spoken of by Socrates in ancient Greece, hold the key to human fulfillment and happiness.
This book approaches the artistic experience from a place of personal pain and resiliency due to a cancer diagnosis. Facing mortality, a human being automatically finds herself or himself thrust into a cascade of questions. What caused this to happen? How will others treat me? Do I have the strength and resilience needed to survive? Other, bigger questions also arise. Has my life been worthwhile? Will I leave a legacy? Can my daily routines bring solace? What more can be done? What more can I do?
Michael Franklin boldly brings his reader into a pl