Hi. Thank you for participating here in the Art circle. I apologize for not being more engaged at the start of this. There has been a lot going on with the Shukke Tokudo, and there has been much to take-in getting a sense of the study and training that lays ahead. I am truly a beginner.
Going forward with our project it is a good idea to be clear on my role, and your role. When it comes to the Dharma subject matter of our projects, I am just like you. What I have to say about the Dharma through art is personal, said as an artist-student. It is not said as a Priest or Teacher. We are in the same boat as student-explorers. When it comes to Art, ideas round creativity, and the creative process, I do have the work experience and can facilitate, but I am also a student of you, learning from you.
So.... What's next?
Lets toss around ideas! We have looked at the Buddha touching the Earth. How can that story, and what it means to you personally, be expressed? Nature is a great place to look and one really good source of inspiration is Andy Goldsworthy who Anne points to here.. http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...l=1#post177845 He touches the earth in amazing ways that look nothing like a "Buddha touching the earth", yet for me it somehow evokes it so beautifully. There are also countless traditional, canonical, representations of the story to draw on. There may be images that pop into the mind, silly non-sequiturs, what do they look like? Invite it, and things appear. So whether it is abstract or representational, a chicken-scratch drawing of a stick figure, a Buddha made of wound up twigs, a photograph of ..... something..... that “rings true” to you, please do make it. This is not a big deal or a final result that is going to be judged (it never will be judged), it is just the process of creative play. Lets play like children who do not know what “correct” and “incorrect” are. There is no need to know anything, except what is joyful to see, and what rings true, even if you don't know how it rings true, and never will.
Lets make something...simple.... just to begin, and post it here over the coming days.
Gassho
Daizan
sat today
Just a note: I will be away at a workshop and offline from later today until Sunday night.
Going forward with our project it is a good idea to be clear on my role, and your role. When it comes to the Dharma subject matter of our projects, I am just like you. What I have to say about the Dharma through art is personal, said as an artist-student. It is not said as a Priest or Teacher. We are in the same boat as student-explorers. When it comes to Art, ideas round creativity, and the creative process, I do have the work experience and can facilitate, but I am also a student of you, learning from you.
So.... What's next?
Lets toss around ideas! We have looked at the Buddha touching the Earth. How can that story, and what it means to you personally, be expressed? Nature is a great place to look and one really good source of inspiration is Andy Goldsworthy who Anne points to here.. http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...l=1#post177845 He touches the earth in amazing ways that look nothing like a "Buddha touching the earth", yet for me it somehow evokes it so beautifully. There are also countless traditional, canonical, representations of the story to draw on. There may be images that pop into the mind, silly non-sequiturs, what do they look like? Invite it, and things appear. So whether it is abstract or representational, a chicken-scratch drawing of a stick figure, a Buddha made of wound up twigs, a photograph of ..... something..... that “rings true” to you, please do make it. This is not a big deal or a final result that is going to be judged (it never will be judged), it is just the process of creative play. Lets play like children who do not know what “correct” and “incorrect” are. There is no need to know anything, except what is joyful to see, and what rings true, even if you don't know how it rings true, and never will.
Lets make something...simple.... just to begin, and post it here over the coming days.
Gassho
Daizan
sat today
Just a note: I will be away at a workshop and offline from later today until Sunday night.
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