Earlier in the summer I spent time with Roksolana Tchotchieva looking on line at a seemingly endless sampling of amazing student drawings done in Russia at one of the two major academies. The work bristled with energy. The difference between these drawings and what I usually see coming from the new “realist” academies here was the difference between surface realism, and work inhabited by conviction and life force.  Sharing this with Roksolana, and then with Tina as well, I was overcome.  I had a real art experience.

When you have a real experience in front of a work of art  it isn’t detached or intellectual.  It’s exciting, and it’s visceral  and you never forget it. These experiences become part of the real moments that live on forever in your consciousness. They are what being a lover of fine art and/or a fine artist is all about.

Sometimes it seems to me that we’ve  lost sight of  the potential the arts hold to enrich our lives in positive ways. Are we still able to really inhabit the moment, to exclude everything but the experience we’re in, both as viewers and as creators?  This is the very definition of  transcendent experience,  the required condition of all great art: presence.  To find your self and your real potential as an artist, you must be entirely present and to do that you must learn to have and maintain focus. Focus is the ability to direct all of yourself into the moment, into what you are doing, with no distractions, no part of your consciousness engaged elsewhere.  No matter how good you may think you are at something,  you will have a more profound experience if you are able to entirely immerse yourself  in your work than if part of you is distracted. This is the essence of profound experience, and this is what fewer and fewer people seem wiling to attempt in this age of multitasking and perpetual interruption.

Rembrandt, Vermeer, Velasquez, Goya, Degas, Turner, Sargent…one could go on. You feel them as they completely inhabit their work. Their work touches us now the way it touched the viewer in its own time, the way it will touch the viewer a hundred years from now. They inhabit their work. That is the real miracle.

Now I have to hope that all our faculty and students will continue to understand that the path is learning to focus, bringing your self entirely to whatever it is you’re doing, and patience, for the path is long and we will have to try and try again on the road to knowledge and skill.

This is why we ask for silence in classes. This is why we don’t permit head phones and cel phones. We are trying to create the conditions that will allow you to discover and actualize your own powers.

If silence frightens you, breathe deeply, close your eyes, see yourself working happily and well.  I promise that you’ll learn to treasure silence as part of the pathway to your own magical, inner, creative world. In attempting to draw  a jug, a cup, a nose with integrity (that is, with full attention), as Hawthorne says, you will find your self!

The greatest gift we can give to our students is the discovery, through the cultivation of discipline and focus, of their own innate powers. That’s something that once found will be yours forever, and is priceless.

Starts: September 30, 2010

This course is designed to help students visualize three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional page, and develop basic drafting skills. Students will first learn the fundamentals of how to render both objects and environments in one, two, and three point perspective without the aid of real world reference.

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Every year I try to communicate to students how important it is to their success to eat well, drink water, and get some exercise every day ( even if it’s just walking part of the way to school).

Unfortunately, over the years nutritional habits have declined!  So much of this is habit that young people tend to close their ears to the scientific facts about how body and mind work together.

The programs at Max the Mutt are rigorous. The dedication has to be there, which means doing everything possible to help yourself  succeed. This includes good organizational skills, and a real love for what you are studying, but all of that can be sabotaged by poor nutrition. Junk food lowers resistance to disease, can lead to mood swings (the sugar blues), and denies the brain what it needs to be creative.

I’ve cut and pasted the articles below in the hope that you’ll read them and take them to heart.

From a post by Peter Moore on EduBlog:

Nutrition and Creativity

Nutrition and creativity?  This might sound like an odd fit, but just logically think about it for a moment.  If you are in poor health, how creative do you think you will feel?  In order to be creative you must have a sharp mind and body.  If you are filling your body full of chemicals and pesticides you are not going to be performing at optimal levels.

If, for some reason, you doubt this, look at it from a different perspective.  Would you eat two large steaks just before running a marathon?  How about four cheeseburgers?  You get the point; you need the right fuel for the job.  Your brain is largely fat, but healthy fat.  Omega-3 fatty acid foods such as flaxseeds, flaxseed oils, sardines and Alaskan wild salmon are brain foods.  Many of us are lacking omega-3 in our diets, and so this is one way to jump-start your brain.

Eating as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible is another way to make sure that your brain and body is at optimal performance.  With many fruits and vegetables it is only slightly more money to buy organic, which means that you are drastically reducing your exposure to harmful pesticides. You are paying more, but you are also getting more.  Numerous studies have shown that organic food is higher in nutrients.  Smart shopping will also allow you to find many organic foods that are only slightly more expensive than their non-organic counterparts.

Exercise and Creativity

Exercise, in any form, increases blood flow to the brain.  The more blood flowing to your brain, the better it works.  A simple brisk walk can be enough to get the job done and it’s an easy way to help you be at an optimal setting to be creative.

The new academic year is almost here. Max the Mutt has gradually grown from an informal studio into a school with international standing. As an artist founded facility, we’ve had to keep changing our administrative methods and procedures to keep up with the growth, and we’ve gone through growing pains. We’ve spent these last months reorganizing to be more efificient and reduce costs, which will help us to control tuition.

We’ve also spent time thinking about education and how to help students maximize their time at Max the Mutt. It’s been an exhausting but meaningful time for us, as we clean and clear, work on a new web site, and add an online student centre!

We ‘ll have surprises for Noelle when she returns.  She sends her best to to all of you. She always sounds upbeat and she’s a fighter.  We all miss her very much and hope that she’ll be back with us sometime during second semester.

Last but not least, one of my heroes is Stephen Hawking. This is the advice that Stephen Hawking gave his children:

“One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away.”

That’s good advice for all of us to take to heart, don’t you think?

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Maxine