Sweltering with Class

(above, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Woman Resting by Tree, 1915--1917, BF139)

Take a close look at the woman in the painting above, and you'll get an idea of how we here in Philly have felt the last week or two...the humidity has left up a bit, but it's still pretty hot. Th

Anyway, on to the real news. Early this June I proposed a class concept here at the Barnes Foundation, where I work. I wasn't sure how it would be received, but as of the beginning of this week, I now have enough students to go forward! It's exciting and nerve-wracking simultaneously, but that's what stretching yourself feels like, right?

The title of the class is Investigating the Spiritual in Art (at the Barnes Foundation), and will draw parallels between early-modern artists (a phenomenal strength of the Foundation) and their practice in spiritual concerns, and contemporary artists who work along similar lines, especially and specifically focusing on how this was looks, and is developed and imparted, formally (color, composition, light, brush-handling, texture, etc.) My hope is that I'll be able to generate some dynamic discussions, and that that would constitute a large part of the course. The skeleton of the syllabus will, though, be based on a series of essays I've been working on, each one dealing with one central characteristic of the spiritual in art: Timeless; Formless; Transcendent; Contemplative, etc. There will also be quite a bit of discussion of weekly readings, and probably a (casual) thesis paper due at the end of the semester. Sounds like fun, right?

For an official blurb of the course, visit this link: www.barnesfoundation.org/art_courses_2009-2010.html , and scroll all the way down to the last-listed course.

Now I really need to get back to work!

Upcoming: three of my paintings will be in Orisons: Enduring Promise, an invitational alumni show at Messiah College (my alma mater). Opens early September; reception is October 16th. More details to come later.