"Still" as adjective, among other things can mean "as if rooted to the spot" (can this be translated to "in the moment"?)
"To sit" is a term used for meditation or to be in the moment.
to sit, even when i stand
The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still"), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun's daily path (as seen from earth) pauses at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction.
Eckhart Tolle use the cross as a helpful analogy for understanding "in the moment"...it is where the vertical and horizontal comes together...the being and the doing...the place of rest which opens up to all sides. This is where "still" as the noun meaning calm- and peacefulness or Eckhart Tolle's word spaciousness, resides.
Then if "life" is "to be", "still life" is "to be in this space of stillness or solstice"
The following are moments within one artwork
"Life is indeed 'momentous' created by accumulated moments in which the deeper 'I' is slowly revealed if we are ready to see it" (Richard Rohr)
journey and layers
To journey is to travel (the daily path as per the sun). For me, in general and also within the framework of this concept, it is concerned with travel within the inner landscape. My understanding of journey as "being in this space now" (the solstice within the daily path) with vastness opening up on all sides, puts me at rest.
I am exploring "to layer" as a way of showing the journey, something naturally evolving over time, like consciousness evolves over time.
According to the enneagram work on ourselves proceeds layer by layer, from the external forms of personality to the inner core of our being...the deeper I.
In the natural world layers accumulate one on top of the other...to get to the core, layers need to be removed. In this art work I applied layers and then took it away again. In life I think different forms of suffering remove the layers until we get to the core of who we are.
In geology it is the banded appearance of certain metamorphic rocks, each band being of a different mineral composition. Sedimentary rocks are formed particle by particle and bed by bed, and the layers are piled one on top of the other. Thus, in any sequence of layered rocks, a given bed must be older than any bed on top of it.
The horizon can be the line at which the earth's surface and the sky appear to meet, the skyline. In terms of the inner landscape it can also reference the limit of a person's knowledge, experience or perspective.
Enlightenment is not an attainment, it is a disappearance. The person becomes transparent and then the light of consciousness comes through. It is a disappearance of the density of the mental and emotional layers that identification with which is the person. The mind movement becomes interspersed with spaces and that is how the light gets through.
This "still life" exploration shows the path of evolvement.
not knowing
A lot of our knowledge is covering up our ignorance with words, entire Ph d's are like that. A refusal to recognize that at the heart of life in the universe there is a deep mystery that we cannot conceptually understand. It is preferable to be in the state of not knowing.
"still life" in the traditional sense within the art context
as die skilder gesien het hoe die lig daarop speel, hoe ‘n dromerige waas daaromheen swewe, en hy beeld dit af, dan ontstaan daar ‘n stukkie poesie, eweredig in waarde aan die ontroering deur die skoonheid wat die kunstenaar ondergaan het. Hier leer die skilderkuns ons behalwe bewondering vir die prag van pronkende kleure ook om opmerksaamheid en liefde te skenk aan klein dinge wat buite die loop van die lewe le, wat maar net bestaan, niks meer nie; dooie dinge dikwels, vergete nietighede.” (Kuns in SA)
Stillewe is 'n kunswerk wat tipies alledaagse/natuurlike voorwerpe uitbeeld, (kos, blomme, dooie diere, plante, klippe, skulpe). Dit kan ook lewelose/mensgemaakte onderwerpe wees (glase, boeke, vase, juweliersware, muntstukke, pype).
Die oorsprong van hierdie kuns het begin by die Middeleeue en die Antieke Grieks-Romeinse tyd, stillewes het as 'n afsonderlike genre tot stand gekom. 'n Voordeel van die stillewe kunsvorm is dat dit die kunstenaar toelaat om te eksperimenteer met verskillende rangskikkings terwyl verskillende verftegnieke ook 'n opsie is. Geleidelik het godsdienstige inhoud verminder in grootte en plasing in hierdie tipe skildery, hoewel morele lesse voortgegaan het as sub-kontekste.
research on portals into stillness (tranquility) or spaciousness
1. Mapping tranquility…in these maps tranquil areas were defined as places sufficiently far from the visual or noise intrusion of development or traffic to be considered unspoiled by urban influences.
Some of these portals includes natural landscape including woodland, presence of rivers, streams, lakes or the sea, birds and other wildlife, wide open spaces, clear open night sky with/without moon, beach in a unique location, open field, flora etc. with gentle to moderate wind flow
still life 1,2,3,4 in my art shop are explorations of this theme
In these works the intention were for the landscape to silence the mind activity represented by the words on the 200year old documents...the word parts end up being the open spaces...spaciousness turned upside down. Or can I say it becomes the bright areas of alert thinking.
2. “Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted (again rooted) in ‘just being’. Allow nature to teach you stillness. When you look at a tree and perceive its stillness, you become still yourself.”(Eckhart Tolle)
"By 'n berg en 'n boom vind jy iets van jouself"
3. Travel becomes a portal because you "...might not even have a name for the new things you see when you are traveling...the mind stops."
In this regard I looked at the technique of defamiliarization or making strange. This is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way so they could gain new perspectives and see the world differently. The concept has influenced 20th century art and theory, ranging over movements including Dada, post modernism, epic theatre, science fiction and philosophy; additionally, it is used as a tactic by recent movements such as cultural jamming.
example of cultural jamming
Dada
Epic theatre is a political drama form. It emphasizes the audience's perspective and reaction to the piece through a variety of techniques that deliberately cause them to individually engage in a different way. The purpose of epic theatre is not to encourage an audience to suspend their disbelief, but rather to force them to see their world as it is.
Defamiliarization both differs and defers, since the use of the technique alters one's perception of a concept (to defer), and forces one to think about the concept in different, often more complex, terms (to differ).
4. To give something my total attention is a portal into stillness.
"I like mechanical watches...and people have made them, they sat down and meticulously put them together, the watchmaker...in the old fashioned way, giving it a lot of attention...and if a object is made with a lot of attention...then once it is finished it has that sense of quality to it,
it's like the consciousness of the maker has become part of the object" (Eckhart Tolle)
5. Listen
6. Breathe
the Bible on stillness
Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
1 Petrus 3:4
'...your adornment...rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious to God"
my still life practice
I want to practice something...being an introvert I often find myself on edge in conversations, like jittery...it must be a frustration to the other person also, thinking if only I could relax...possibly some of that comes from me thinking that I am expected to say something...I want to let go of that thought and just be still
Choose not to resist but to accept and be open
jy kan wees net wat jy is en jy is wat jy word
This morning I listened to Antoinette Pienaar on RSG and it was so inspiring. She said she wants to take time the coming winter season, the season of hibernation to take stock of the condition of her wings. She used the word wings in reference to dreams as well as lungs. She said that when we breathe it brings us in touch with our wings. Interesting. She said, and I experience it much in the same way, that if you consciously focus on the condition of your wings you would realize when you are tightly holding back your wings, when you are either scared, intimidated or because of some other reason do not allow yourself to be. In terms of journey she said we should show our wings even if they are not fully developed yet. To allow myself to be who I am now because without this layer of experience or perspective the next layer has no foundation to rest on and it is the layer upon layer that adds to the richness.
"Accept the imperfect, or not just that, embrace it" (Shaun Mendess)
Become conscious of the pause between the in and out breath.
I don't know who of you are also interested in the enneagram personality system but I am a type 5 wing 4, the philosopher. Key elements of this personality type threatens my ability to be still. Of this I think my tendency to escape into my mind are paramount. My fear is that I will be incapable and therefore I isolate to spend a lot of time acquiring knowledge to equip me. Instead the practice of acquiring knowledge through experience, through participating in the world are far more practical, alert and valuable. I now choose to "be" instead of escaping into this confusing place that is called my mind.
"The way you experience life is kind of mirroring back to you your predominant state of consciousness"
brainwave 2 (2012)
This artwork that I did as part of my studies show the confusion and complexity of the mind.
A moment to moment practice is "to sit even when I stand"
I am letting go of form identity...I am not what I accomplished today, it is just what it is. I am not what I wear today, it is just what it is. I am letting go of how I see and portray myself...introvert, artist, separate, thinker, shy, ashamed, the good and the bad, I am letting go of everything...I need to let myself be...I am letting go of the mind narrative portraying me as some one with too little time, too little energy, not worthy, some one who are not intelligent or equipped enough, not driven enough, the thought that I need to plan, to think more... I need to allow myself to be without conceptual constraints. I am letting go of any criteria that I must fulfill in order to go out in the world. I am letting go of what I think I ought to do today. Just realizing that this is especially a thought pattern I struggle with on a Saturday for some or other reason. I am letting go of narrative that builds up to social interactions later today. I want that interaction just to be what it is.
resistance
Suffering is generated through resistance...and the origin of resistance is a narrative that forms in my mind. Relinquish the mental narrative that tells me who I am.
In my life it plays out on many levels, foremost it inhibits my openness for possibilities.
The portal to change is acceptance. I need to accept the resistance for it to change. Part of acceptance is to embrace it as my teacher.
I HAVE JUST REALIZE SOMETHING: I WON'T BE ABLE TO GET OUT OF CONCEPTS WITH CONCEPTUAL ART
drome en openbarings
30 April 2011
"Wat jou opgewonde maak le binne jou - die innerlike ruimte van die siel is jou speelveld en jou eerlike kyk daarna sal jou bydrae wees. Dit is waar jy verlang om te speel en tyd te spandeer. Jy moet tyd maak om daar rond te loop. Nie bang wees om tyd daar te spandeer nie. Nie net oppervlakkig te raak en bolangs te voel nie, maar werklik verstaan, vergeet, vind. Wees oop om alles te leer en orals te gaan. Om die ruimte van hoek tot kant te leerken. Maak tyd, spandeer die tyd. Verken die ruimte volledig. Stoot die grense van vrees wyer en wyer. Jy sal ervaar hoe jy ruimte in jouself skep. Hoe jy begin ver kyk met jou geestesoog. Hoe jou siel asem skep en tot rus kom. Die Karoo in jou lyf. Strek jouself uit, maak oop, stoot voort. Nuwe horisonne, ondenkbare ruimtes. Vlaktes van die siel , soos 'n brander wat alles oop spoel. Grense verskuif. Ruimtes oop maak wat voorheen toe was. Content. Om tevrede te wees waar jy is omdat alles wat jy nodig het om te wees wat jy moet wees tot jou beskikking is." ('n openbaring)
Creating a "still life" garden
* Yarn bomb the grid under my tree
*make plastic cushions for the chairs
*use cement blocks for path and move existing path block to front garden
*make a feature on wall in right back corner of garden
