 |
| Bruce Herman Portrait of the Artist's Father |
This past weekend, March 4 and 5, Tina and I traveled to Charlotte for the first ever CIVA Charlotte symposium, which was sponsored in part by Arts Charlotte and Church at Charlotte. Over 100 people turned out to hear from visual artists and educators concerning the calling and vocation of the artist. The keynote speak was Bruce Herman professor of art at Gordon College.
 |
| Dianne Collard addresses CIVA Charlotte |
During Bruce Herman's Friday night talk he spoke about his current work which now involves capturing individual’s portraits. As he described his father’s portrait (seen in this post) he talked about finishing the work and feeling as if had captured the essence and reality of his father on canvas. Bruce stated that as he continues to work with portraits one of his goals is to, “make a painting that feels like a human being.”
It instantly struck me that such a goal, making art that captures a human being, is not limited by the medium. In one way or another great art universally captures the image, dare we say the icon, of God’s human creation. I am in the beginning process of writing a novel, maybe one day I will share some of it here on the blog. As such I am attempting to capture through words my main character as a fully formed individual. The more real I can make him the more impactful the story becomes. I was moved to tears the first time I finished the Illiad, and had gruesome nightmare while read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Obviously, writing with the goal of making a person real does not mean I write only in some hyper-realistic way. It does mean I am trying to capture my character in a manner that the character has substance of his or her own. The same is true when writing non-fiction, in the art of biography and memoir the quest become to present the subject matter as whole and substantive.
I imagine that you can see how this notion is not limited to writing and painting. Film of course depends on the combination of these art forms into a solid hybrid whole. What would your experience of Schindler’s List be if not for the nameless girl in the red dress? Not knowing more than what is portrayed on the movie screen we fully appreciate her wholeness as a human being lost in the darkness of the holocaust. Indeed, it is a small step from this to consider how all art is an icon of reality. A representation of a truth we cannot fully place our hands around but nevertheless sense and see (either with our eyes or our mind’s eye) as real, whole and substantive.
I will end at this post with another observation Bruce Herman made this weekend. Bruce pointed out the difference between comprehension and understanding. To comprehend, from latin, means to wrap one arms around, or seize a subject or object. To understand, is to stand underneath or in the midst of a subject. Even to submit to the thing trying to be understood. Just as much as creating artwork that feels like a human being and the idea of all art being an icon, this idea of understanding is just as probative and rich. I have been in too many leadership situation, sometimes underneath someone’s leadership, and regrettably some of the very things I have lead, where compression of a person, team, or task has been the dominating philosophy rather than understanding said person, team or task. It is amazing to experience the difference between the two. Indeed it is life giving. The key difference between the two is humility. A blog post for another time I hope.
 |
| Panel Discussion with Allison Luce, Bruce Herman and Sandra Bowden |
 |
| Panel Discussion with Bruce Herman, Sandra Bowden, and Carmella Jarvi |
No comments:
Post a Comment