White Tara, Dharmapala Thangka Centre *** The hands want to see, the eyes want to caress. –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe *** The dancer has his ear in his toes. –Friedrich Nietzsche *** How would the painter or poet express anything other than his encounter with the world? –Maurice Merleau-Ponty These quotes are included in The […]
Aesthetics
The Fundamental Geometries
Anna Hepler’s “The Great Haul,” at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. The sculpture is made from plastic and makes reference to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. (Photo: Scott Peterman) Thank you Sebastian Smee, for addressing an issue that feels extremely personal and one that I have written about here many times: the demand […]
- Aesthetics
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Coyne’s Law
Lowell Lieberman, composer My sister Rebecca is a musician and composer, and I’ve been piggybacking off of her exquisite ear for most of my life. She first introduced me to the music of Lowell Lieberman 20 years ago and we have followed his music making with a quiet reverence ever since. His approach to tonality […]
Inside and Outside, at the Same Time
Photo: From the Brooklyn Museum of Art Another evocative passage by way of Juhani Pallasmaa’s The Eyes of the Skin. (More quotes from the book here, and more will be posted in the future since I have been in a state of awe regarding this book for some time.) The role of the hand and […]
Volumetric Light
7 World Trade Center: Lucid facades of glass, designed by James Carpenter (Photo: Wired New York) James Carpenter was a glass artist for 30 years (and studying/collaborating with Dale Chihuly while he was at RISD) prior to his more recent involvement in architectural projects. His approach involves using glass not to just create enclosures but […]
Focused vs Peripheral Vision
Packing material in my studio which confounds the eye depending on which way you look at it. Focus vs peripheral sight at play… I’ve referenced one of my greatest recent finds several times on this blog—The Eyes of the Skin by architect Juhani Pallasmaa. I’ve been rereading this slim volume and can’t not share just […]
- Aesthetics
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Clear Light
Always in search of “clear light”, but even the sunrise in my studio at 6AM can enchant William Segal was a successful businessman and magazine publisher who also emphatically embraced the inner journey. His interests were in Eastern spiritual traditions and most specifically, the work of Gurdjieff and his disciple Ouspensky. In addition to writing […]
- Aesthetics
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Basking in that Uncertain Space
I fell upon a small hand-assembled book while I was in New York: Poetry is Not a Project, by Dorothea Lasky, published by Ugly Duckling Presse. (A visit to their site is a quirky and “artisanal” (but of course—they are located in Brooklyn!) adventure that made me want to know more, much more about what […]
Something to Fasten Upon
Sarah McLachlan in 1998. Her 2010 Lilith Fair tour has had to cancel dates. Lady Gaga, whose influence is pervasive among many female pop singers. (Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage—Getty Images; Andy Paradise/Associated Press) Sincerity. I knew it was beleaguered but who knew it was on life support? The Sunday Times‘ Arts & Leisure above-the-fold article is […]
- Aesthetics
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Poetry’s Leaky Margins
Anne Carson and Rashaun Mitchell: Ms. Carson, a poet, and Mr. Mitchell, a dancer and choreographer, collaborated on “Nox” and “Bracko” at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. From left, Marcie Munnerlyn, Mr. Mitchell, Carol Dougherty,Ms. Carson, Robert Currie and Kate Gilhuly in “Bracko.” (Photo: Liza Voll) My admiration for the poet Anne Carson […]