Free Columbia now has 4 books available:
52 weeks - Drawing and Painting with Rudolf Steiner's Calendar of the Soul by Laura Summer $35 plus shipping
Dark and Light Drawing 52 Exercises by Laura Summer $20 plus shipping
Sweater of Rain-Gesture Stories by Laura Summer $22 plus shipping
Art, Postmodernity and Anthroposophy by Nathaniel Williams $10 plus shipping
all books will be shipped book rate $3.50/one book, $5 /two or more books
You can send a check made out to: Hawthorne Valley Association - memo
Free Columbia
To: Laura Summer
651 Harlemville Rd
Hillsdale NY 12529
Descriptions of Books:
52 Weeks - Drawing and Painting with the Calendar of the Soul
As modern people we live with very little relationship to the cycle of the year. Central heat and cooling, electric lights and modern transportation allow us to be fairly comfortable in any season and therefore unconscious of the great breathing cycle of the earth. The verses of Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul provide a meditative path for experiencing this cycle. When drawn or painted these exercises are designed to provide the student with an experience of inner movement during the year; the breathing in of the earth in winter, the out breathing into summer and the subtle variations, spirals, reversals and lemniscates of the process.
If you are interested in this work you may contact me at freecolumbiaart@gmail.com
example:
Week 1.
Look outside. Inspired by the horizontals of the horizon, block these in with shades of gray, brown, pale green, and/or ochre. Layer these, use pastel or watercolor or pencil. Now inspired by the trees, bushes or other verticals, bring in some vertical lines. Arrange them, being aware of your spacing. Now come in between the verticals or over them with more of the above color tones adding pale reds, rose, and gold.
The sun speaks to the human mind,
And gladness from the depths of soul
Becomes, in seeing, one with light,
Then rising from the sheath of self,
Thoughts soar to distances of space
The human being to the spirit’s life.
Dark and Light Drawing 52 exercises by Laura Summer
From the Introduction:
What can we learn by dark and light drawing?
What is darkness? What is light? What is a composition? What is balance?
These are questions that live beyond their material manifestations. They are questions that deal with experiences that are sense free in their origin but that reveal themselves in manifestation in our visual world.
As a visual artist it is essential to have a working relationship with the elements of composition. In slowly building up perception of these elements you will develop a relationship to them that is beyond the intellectual. It is not only valuable for people who think of themselves as visual artists to work with dark and light drawing. Developing the ability to see and work with these essential elements can aid in developing concentration and perception.
This book is made up of 52 exercises. Although it is always worthwhile to do an individual exercise, the exercises in this book are arranged as a progressive sequence, each building on the previous one. But they are not so sequential that it is not possible to skip one if it seems obscure or confusing. If this happens I suggest just going on to the next and later looking back at the one that was difficult, perhaps it has been revealed through your practice. Any trouble with comprehension is more my fault than yours and the “fault” of not being able to demonstrate. In the end it will work out because new directions will come from experimenting.
Sweater of Rain and Other Gesture Stories by Laura Summer
The gesture of a story
When we think of a story we think of a plot, characters, setting and meaning but we can also look at the gesture of a story. What, in a gesture is a story trying to say? Do we look inward? Do we turn our thinking around? Do we struggle through darkness to light?
In creating these stories I tried to see what the gesture of a season is. How is Advent different from Easter? What happens at Ascension? At Michealmas? In creating paintings and block prints to accompany these stories I have tried to bring the gesture of the season as it is revealed in the story into visual expression. You will not find illustrations here but rather visual experiences that may make you question, what gesture lives here?
Stories are meant to be told as well as read. Please feel free to tell these stories, expand on them, create variations. So the stories of the world evolve.
Laura Summer
Art, Postmodernity and Anthroposophy by Nathaniel Williams
This essay by Nathaniel Williams is based on his lecture given at the conference: "The Search for Humanity in Contemporary Art" on August 13, 2010 at the Basilica Industria in Hudson NY.
