Objective: Become familiar with was in which spirituality influences artists
Deeply Seeing was an amazing piece of writing that I truly enjoyed reading and found extremely interesting. Grey goes into much detail into seeing and art and the deeper meaning of much of this. He brought up many ideas I have never considered in my life, but was very thought provoking and may have spiked an interesting in me to look further.
I thought his discussion on Saint Bonaventure’s three eyes of knowing was interesting and though I may not believe that everybody see’s this way, I can understand how many people, particularly artist do have the three eyes. I think that most people in the world must have at least the first eye, “the eye of flesh see the ‘outer’ realm of material objects” (Grey 73). I would think that everybody sees the big picture idea of objects that they look at everyday. When you continue to the second eye, “the eye of reason sees symbolically, drawing distinctions and making conceptual relationships” (Grey 73). I think many people have this, but it is not always, they must tap into this eye for a deeper meaning of something. The third eye, “the mystic eye of contemplation sees the luminous transcendental realms,” is where I believe the true artist must come out (Grey 73). I believe this because it may be come for everybody to have the first eye, and maybe even the second, but the third eye must require more meaning and thought processing, and that is where many of the true artist come from, in their understanding and seeing through the third eye.
I was intrigued by the discussion of the chakras and its relation to art. I have heard about the seven chakras in yoga classes and just through other people bringing them up but have never really read about them. I also did not even think about the chakras being able to be related to artist and their works. I have recently been looking for new hobbies in my life and drawing and yoga have been two things I have been considered taking up or at least trying out more seriously. I think Grey’s linking these two together and his conversation of the chakras has interested me even more.
Toward the end of Grey’s writing he explains the world and how it is an, “ongoing series of nested whole-parts. Neither wholes nor parts exist independently of each other; there are only whole-parts: holons” (Grey 102). I found this to be very true. When we look at anything in the world, an object, and idea, a movement, it cannot be looked at on its own, it is part of something bigger. And that bigger thing it is a part of is still part of something bigger than that. I enjoy his terming of “holons” I had never heard this before but I thought it was funny, creative, and realistic.
In his last section of the chapter on page 102 Grey states, “Viewers interpret a work of art through the filter of their worldview, the knowledge and experience conditioning their mind.” I find this to be very true. We are all different and come from different backgrounds and levels of knowledge. What one person sees in a painting is not going to be the same thing the next person sees. The world each of us has chosen allows us to see things a certain way. This part in Grey’s article made me think of the unit we did for this class on What is Art? where I found myself realizing that many things can be art and everybody can have their own view on the piece of work no matter if you were educated in “art” or not.
Reflection and Future:
The reading assignment in the creative spirituality section of this course was one of my favorite readings throughout this term. I thought the chapter Deeply Seeing of the book The Mission of Art by Alex Grey really opened my eyes to different ways in which spirituality can impact artists and how it influences them. This piece of writing helped me see this side of an artist through the discussion of the three eyes of knowing. The third eye really is what opened to me it is, “the mystic eye of contemplation sees the luminous transcendental realms” (Grey 73). Reading that just sounds magical to me. The three eyes in this reading have helped me understand that artist do truly see things differently.
Artists just don’t look at a mountain and see a mountain, they see everything they could do with a mountain when painting or drawing it. Their imagination runs wild with the colors that would make the mountain change moods and change the way it makes somebody feel when they would look at their work. This is just an example of how the reading as helped me see this. I feel that people can probably be trained in artistic abilities, but I think a lot of artists contain creativity within them and being able to dig deep to the third eye is what the training my really be geared at. We all see the world from our experiences and our eyes, and we all see things differently, which is what makes life so amazing. In Artifact #2 I discuss how there are multiple ways to examine art and what makes something art which I think could go nicely alone with thins artifact as I feel one is about creating art from inside and one is viewing art from the outside.
Recently I have been wanting to become more creative in my life because it is probably one of the things I feel I have experienced the least so far. I do not consider myself artist but this writing opened me up to ways that I may be able to become more creative and artistic in the future. I think keeping in mind, that whatever I consider art is art, and getting in touch with my deeper “eyes” possibly through yoga as Grey talks upon, will help me explore my recent desires.
I created this out of wood, nails, and thread. Though it was not my original idea, each time I create something it helps me see things from new perspective and builds my artistic confidence.