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Dear All,
Live artistically. Although that might seem a little fanciful, but why not? You can see the point. An artist has to look, appreciate, enjoy, actually be there when the event is taking place, whether it be - as in the case of Winifred Nicholson in the reflection below - placing the paint on the canvas - or indeed any artistic venture. In addition there is that other factor, imaginative response, and that comes from we know not where, ‘on it’s own wings’ as Winifred imaginatively puts it. It’s just a matter of pulling the plug.
To live like that requires a freshness and spontaneity regardless of the situation.
As was mentioned last week, this coming Wednesday, the architect, Richard Ibbett, is giving a free presentation on the Wisdom Works Philosophy As a Way off Life series about the ideas that has allowed his imagination to take wing. Full details are below.
Richard Ibbett, an architect whose many commissions include the Artist’s Hall at Waterperry House, will explore the idea of Concinnitas.
Concinnitas is a word that is central to understanding the ideas of beauty in art, architecture, and oratory as expressed by a central Renaissance figure, Leon Batista Alberti. Richard will trace the idea back to Plato via an important work in Stoic philosophy, Cicero’s De Oratore. He will consider how the meaning of Concinnitas has evolved in the hands of Alberti to become a concept of huge influence.
PULLING THE PLUG
The supply comes to us artists from the source of everything, as you know, whenever an idea comes of itself on its own wings. This is the inexhaustible source and the same impetus which sends the idea brings with it the power of carrying it out, which implies nourishment, shelter, friends, peace of mind, everything. The only thing one has to do is not block up the channels through which the supply comes.
These are the words of Winifred Nicholson, a painter of real power and a possessor of insight. Here she is writing of the supply of inexhaustible energy which an artist may touch in a moment of power and insight. The only danger as she so clearly indicates is of something personal blocking the channels, but what is the ‘something personal’? All those things we have been discussing and will continue to discuss: habits of mind and emotional constraints in all their multifarious forms. They wait in the wings ready to rule, laying limitations on everything we meet. In the process these limitations make a heavy claim. They claim to be us, and we believe them. More fool us. Pull the plug. Let the energy flow. Be creative, be constructive, serve the need in the spirit of love.
PRACTICE:
Courage and love provide the means. Pull out the plug of habit and enter the present. That is where the energy lives.
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