Art and Consciousness

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Art and ConsciousnessThe Pedagogy of Art and TransformationAuthor(s): Michael GradySource: Visual Arts Research, Vol. 32, No. 1(62) (2006), pp. 83-91Published by: University of Illinois PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20715405.

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Art and Consciousness?The Pedagogy of Artand TransformationMichael GradyJohnF.KennedyUniversity

AbstractThe world has changed profoundlynthepast50 years, but our approaches to educating artists have not. This paper describes the evolution and unique educational approaches of the

Department of Arts and Consciousness at JohnF. Kennedy University in alifornia - a studio artprogram that uses innovative holistic techniquesto lead students intothe integrationf body,mind, spirit and culture, through art. The programstresses cross-cultural awareness, communityservice and spiritual awareness. The historicaland cultural foundations for the re-emergence ofart as a non-religious, spiritual, and self-integrative practice are examined. These foundationsinclude ideas associated with the Bauhaus,

Asian art and the Automatist branch of the Surrealist movement. The department's educationalphilosophies and curriculum are discussed within he ontext foverlooked piritual egaciesofmodernism, cultural pluralism, and the changingroles of art as professional practice.

IntroductionAs theworld changes, so must theways inwhich artists are trained. In thepast century, e have experienced changes intechnology, culture,morality,and environmentthat re unparalleled inhuman history. heDepartment of Arts and Consciousnessat John F. Kennedy University, in Berkeley,California, has forthe past 30 yearsbeen developing a newway toaddress theproblem of arts education for new cultural reality. tsprograms seek to reestablishspirituality s an essential propertyofart,withoutmaking links o formalreligiousdoctrine. These programs are also predicated on theassertion that the basic functionof art is tocreate transformation nthe

artist, the viewer, the community, nd theculture.Yet the contemporary artworld?which paradoxically believes it is all-inclusive (Rosenberg, 1972)?has marginalizedor discarded the spiritualand transformativedimensions ofartwhich once gave itsense of culturalauthority nd meaning.Afternearly threedecades, thedepartment is still work inprogress. This paperwill examine the evolution of the programand consider itssignificance inthe development of new and holisticapproaches toart education. The unique academic andartistic curricula and holistic approachesto art as a fusion of body, mind, spirit,and culturewill be discussed. Further, itwill also consider the program's links tothe evolution of modernism, the realitiesof postmodernist thinking nd various diverse cultural influences that are reshapingtheemergent global culture.The world of contemporary art andthe educational structures that support ithave reflectedan increasing global crisisin identitynd meaning brought about bythe failure f old culturalstructuresand assumptions.The onslaught of new multicultural realities and the revolutionary ffectsof feminism,Marxism, and thepresent eraof global capitalism have contributed tothese epochal changes. The modern eraof art has been characterized by the cultof the avant garde, which Donald Kuspit(1996) asserts was destined from ts nceptiontobe the instrument n its wn demise.The postmodernist approaches toart thatpredominate the contemporary art worlddo notattempt toaddress the crisis in ultural identityr spiritualmeaning. Instead,postmodernism denies the very concept

VISUALARTS RESEARCH ? 2006 by theBoard ofTrustees of theUniversityf Illinois 83

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of meaning or indeed the existence ofan individualor collective identity Kuspit,2004). We are leftonly with materialismand the hollow capitalist impulse towardthe acquisition of wealth and power assubstitutes fordeeper levels of knowledgeand awareness. The denial of the spiritualincontemporary art, though a dominantaspect of theart scene, isby no means afait ccompli. The ancient impulse towardart as spiritual inquiry nd mystical practicewas originallyan important spect ofmodernism and is recognized even today,bymany, as an essential dimension of trulyeffective rt.Suzi Gabiik (1992) states, We live ina world that has drastically narrowed oursensitivitytomoral and spiritual issues; theproblem is how todeal with a belief structure that has blocked both psychologicaland spiritual development (p. 3). Artistsare in different usiness today thanwereour artistic ancestors of justa generationago. Our teachers and theirteachers before them, in rt schools and universities

around theworld, have embraced divergent, sometimes antithetical, notions ofwhat and who makes good art; and whatmakes art good. The cultural boundariesand ideals thatonce defined art are nowsubject to endless redefinition y art andartists, philosophers, politicians, and cultural institutions,leading to a morass ofnondefinition (Rosenberg, 1972). Modernism, de-defined by postmodernism, hasleft s with an unbounded confusion of diversity, onceptualism, and neocapitalism.Much has been written bout the end ofartand the dimensions of a post-avant gardeculture shaped and reshaped by globalization, technology,and moribund culturalstructures that nce gave artmeaning, likereligious faith nd the search forbeautyand happiness (Kuspit, 1996).Perhaps the most significantbut overlooked aspect of 20th century art is themeeting of artistic principles of Asia: theMiddle East, India and East Asia (Sullivan, 1973). Certainly the emergence ofOrientalism in 19th century Europe andthe influence of Japanese Ukiyo-e wood

block prints on the Impressionisms annotbe ignored.Asian-inspired principles of theTheosophists and later fZen had a similarlyprofound, though often overlooked,influence n theemergence ofmodernism.It is remarkable that students in rt colleges throughout theworld are still taught adecidedly Eurocentric view of art, despitethe inspirationsuch modernist principlesderived throughcontact with non-European cultures. Similarities exist between theideas of the early European modernists,likeKandinsky, and the classical traditionsofChinese paintings. Lipsey (1988) makesan important linkbetween the Chineseconcept of spiritresonance (chi y?r?)andKandisky's notion on inner sound (p.43).Both are central to theawareness of spiritualessence inart-making,but are largelyoverlooked incontemporary art and education.Even when no direct contact was evident, thespiritualaspirations of theclassical East and themodern West were unitedin heart of the 20th century. he 19thcenturynotion of the natural sublime, evidentin thework of Friedrich,Turner, and otherRomantic painters of the period isessentiallythe same as the connection toTao?the flowof nature which is at the heartof classical Chinese landscape painting.The Chinese propensity for spontaneityand eccentricitywhich were emblematicof theSung and Tang dynasties (7th?13thcentury CE) were claimed as essentialaspects of the European and AmericanAbstract Expressionist movement, apparentlywith littleknowledge of the similarities to the classical Chinese. This seemsan important spect of the currentsearchfornew models of cultural fusion in art:discovery of culturalessence inthe searchfor transcendent meaning. Cultural competency for contemporary artists mustgo farther than the mere awareness ofother cultures. It eems essential thataspiringartists have a direct experience ofother cultures throughphysical participation in rt and ritual if heir ducation is toadequately integrate convergent culturaltraditions.

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The BauhausMany of theconcepts and techniques usedby art schools todaywere first evelopedand articulated by the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus was inspired by theMarxist idealsof proletarian control of technology andindustrys well as by themystical teachingsofRudolf Steiner and Henri Bergson,who had developed rationalist pproachesto thespiritualmovements associated withavant garde salons of the early 20thcentury.he Bauhaus's progressive social andtechnological vision was embodied by itsfounderWalter Gropius and his colleagueLudwig Mies van der Rohe. Itsmysticalinfluenceswere established by JohannesItten,Paul Klee, and, Wassily Kandinskywho joined the school soon afterGropiusbecame its director (Colin, 1999). Thedialogue and struggle between the twopolarities of social change and spiritualattainment (the social vs. the personal) hada great deal to do with the power and effectiveness of theBauhaus and its impacton modern art education.The early modernist obsession withself-examination and community servicewas well reflected in the Bauhaus, whichbased its Vbr/curs-^foundation?classeson Itten's color theories, which includedreferences to numerous mystical practices including theosophy, anthroposophy,Mazdazanism, and Buddhism (Colin,1999). Equally revolutionary approachesto design and technological educationwere also partof the Bauhaus's legacy.Wehave inherited he Bauhaus-based formalism nd zeal fortechnology that is evidentin lmost every aspect of modern designand architecture, but have lost the otherside of the Bauhaus's cultural genius, thespiritual side thatwas purged from thelaterstages of this brilliant but relativelyshort-lived institution.hen Director Gropius proclaimed thenew alliance betweenart and technology in1923, he essentiallychanged the foundations of theschool andmoved towards a stronger link o technology and industry.lthoughGropius himselfhad held a vision of balance between the

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Image 1. Portrait of Johannes Itten, 1920. Photograph by Paula Stockmar, BHA.

spiritual and the technological, his proclamation, thatall art created at the Bauhaus was henceforth to be informed nlyby practical function, evered connectionswithmedieval mystical links between art,craftguilds, and esoteric spiritualpractice.The resultantdramatic resignation of Johannes Itten, ho had been frequentlyntagonistic toGropius's vision of theschool,and was the facultymember most closelylinked tomysticism and esoteric spiritualpractices, changed the nature of the Bauhaus experiment in rt education. This resulted in legacy of rationalist/materialistphilosophies of design and architecturethat remainsworldwide to thisday (Colin,1999).Itten's uccessor as master of the classes of color and design was Josef Albers,who taughtmany of Itten's heories ofcolorbut eliminated all references tohis spiritualcontent and condemned Itten's arrogantindividualism Schnitz, 1999, p. 315). Theinitial ounterbalance to the technical andindustrial ias of the Bauhaus was lost in

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the national fervor for industrialrecoveryand the avant garde obsession with technology.In itsearly parallel motives of art asboth spiritualself-inquiry nd material service to themasses, the Bauhaus drew aconnection between spiritual expressionand the creation of radical approachesto design and architecture. Most art colleges offer foundation curricula based onBauhaus principles in the attempt to findcommon ground between art and industry.he formalist/materialistlegacy of theBauhaus that has informedmany generations of industriallyriented artists, architects,and designers seems insufficient orthe economic and political realities of the21st century.The reexaminaron of mysticism andpersonal nonreligious approaches tospirituality, hich were once seen as integralaspects of revolutionary social change,may contain the foundations fora newapproach to art and art education. GivenItten's bsession with the occult and Kleeand Kandisky's essentially transcendentnotion of life (Gabiik, 1984, p. 21), itwasinevitable that the Bauhaus would reflectthe spiritualaspect of art.The connectionbetween art and industry hatprevailed intheBauhaus was also entirely ppropriatefor culture rushingtothepeak of its ndustrialmight.Today, however, European andAmerican artists live in different, ostindustrialworld. We have replaced relianceon industry ith a service-based economyand mentality.Where once the Bauhausfound creative partnerships in the industrial/technologicalworld, a contemporaryalliance with the fields of health, psychology, and environmentalism seem equallyinevitable for he artworld today.

The Origins ofArts andConsciousnessThe Department of Arts and Consciousness (A&C), a small art department inarelatively bscure California university, asbeen attempting to create a new way ofeducating artists?to prepare them fora

world inwhich cultural identitynd meaning re in onstant question. The idea thatart is an innatelyhealing activity relatedto spiritual attainment and insight is anancient source fromwhich the programwas inspired. Its foundationswere rootedina variety of spiritual philosophies andpractices. Academically the department'sinfluences and approaches were inspiredby pioneers of the Bauhaus, and laterofthePsychic Automatist branch ofSurrealism?in particular the late English artistGordon Onslow Ford. Onslow Ford livedintheBay Area forthe lasthalf of his lifeand worked closely with several A&C facultymembers. He provided thedepartmentwith a living ink o thePsychic Automatistartists of late 1930s in aris, where hewasamong theSurrealists who firstdevelopedthe approach (Henderson, 1986). Thoughnever a member of the faculty,OnslowFord functioned as a mentor forseveralkey facultymembers in the departmentover the past 20 years. His admonitionto approach art as a journey into theinnerworlds became a familiarphraseinthe department. He insisted that it asessential to approach art and life s anautomatist?to accept with delight whatever comes. This remains a key foundationof the department's approach to art andartists.Arts and Consciousness was foundedin1977 byJackWeiler and the lateCharlesMiedzinski. Its primary precept was that

Image 2. Star Born II, 1992. Gordon OnslowFord, Acrylic on canvas. (Lucid Arts Foundation)86 MichaelGrady



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Image 3. GordonOnslow Ford inhis studio,Bishop Pines California,1994. (Photo:FaribaBogzavan, Lucid Arts Foundation)art,at its ore, is form f spiritualhealingand thatartistsmight serve as healers inthesame manner as indigenous shamanichealers once served tribal communities.These early notions of art as healing?notquite as therapybut as a proactivemeansfor ersonal, community, nd environmental transformation?remain an importantpartof thedepartment and its ducationalapproaches.While the original curriculum stressedthe use of creative self-expression as atool for self-examination and emotionalhealing, itwas relativelyuninterested inthe formaland cultural dimensions of art.The absence of intensive tudio emphasiswas perceived by the pioneers of the program to be desirable, because untrainedstudentswere thoughttobe more open tonew concepts and to authentic personalinsightsand expressions. Older studentswere seen as most appropriate toconvertlife xperiences intomeaningful and authentic tatements of spiritual truth.

Originally the department's curriculumwas based upon students finding theirownways in theworld by moving fromthe

insightsderived from reative self-expression intopositive therapeutic interactionswith the larger ommunity.No attemptwasmade tosuggest thattheart being createdby students was intrinsically aluable orcapable of sustaining a transformative xperience in thers except as an illustrationof the artist's own experience. This earlyart-therapeutic phase of the programwasfoundedon a noble, but limited, erceptionthat rt's primaryvalue lies in itsutilitarianfunction;the healing of emotional illnessand thedevelopment of individual piritualawareness.In 1996, theArts and Consciousnessprogramwas revised tostrengthen technical and formalaspects of the curriculum.New facultywere hiredwho were less inclined towards the therapeutic or self-consciously described sacred aspects ofart,and more interested in holisticvision ofart as simultaneously spiritual,social, andmaterial. The program was split into twonew programs: a Master of Fine Arts inStudio Arts which was quite selective, admittingonly studentswith strongart backgrounds; and an Master ofArts inTransformativeArts which stressed the linksbetween individual artistic process andcreativeworkwith external communities.

CurriculumThe department's links to the Bauhausand othermodernist ancestors are clearlyvisible in the curriculum today. JohannesItten'scolor theory is taught in mannerthatwould have been consistent with hiswork in the early years of the Bauhaus.Although the rigidstructure and technological focus of the Bauhaus are not present inArts and Consciousness, theoverallintent emains the same: tocombine innervision with craftand service to the community. he early 20th century focus of theBauhaus on industryhas been replacedwith an equally strong commitment topersonal and community healing and transformation. ForA&C, the practical use of artlies in itspotential forwork in the communityratherthan inthe factory.he passion




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ate dialogues between Bauhaus facultyregarding theprimacyof social praxis overspirituality re familiarthemes inArts andConsciousness facultymeetings.The curriculumof Arts and Consciousness examines artistic traditions froma

variety of cultures and historical periodsas well as contemporary approaches topsychology, philosophy, and cultural theory. he overall focus of the program isonspiritual self-inquiryand cultural competency as the foundations fordiscoveringmeaning inone's work and offeringvalueand relevance to the community.Theseeducational goals are achieved throughacombination of pedagogical strategies thatinvolve xperiential, academic, and technical learning. Individualcourses are seenas part of a larger xperience inwhich thestudent's experience of creativity is developed through varietyof media. Painting,sculpture, photography,video, installation,movement, and poetics are all representedas artistic disciplines within the program,no single media being emphasized. Students are encouraged towork in varietyofmedia and toexplore freely?especiallyin the firstyear of the program. Periodicformal reviews by facultycommittees examine both student artworkand individualinsights intocreativity,culture, and com

munity.Upon entering the department, students are required to enroll in coursesthat introduce them toholisticapproachesto art as self-inquiry rather than as craft.Paradigms of Consciousness, Creativity nd Consciousness, and Art and theSymbolic Process forma year-long sequence inwhich students move throughthe process of intense self-examinationthrougha carefullyorchestrated series ofexercises that involvestudio activity (collage, drawing, and painting) as well asmeditative practice. Applied Alchemy offers furtherxtension of the process begun in the introduction lasses, taking theidea of creative process intothe realm ofalchemy seen from n essentially Jungianperspective.Students are required to complete art

historycourses as undergraduate prerequisites. Inaddition, theymust complete aSurvey ofWorld Religions and any of avariety of spiritual practice courses thatinvolve ctual practice ofa particularmeditative technique and academic examinationof the cultural and philosophical traditionwith which it isassociated?Zen orVipasana forexample. Many courses aredesigned toprovide a sense of connectionto diverse cultural and philosophical traditions. Courses inphilosophy and criticismhelp them contextualize these experienceswith theirown work as contemporary artists.Media of Sacred Arts, a category ofstudio ?lectives, introduces techniquesthat xplore topics such as Asian ink ainting, qigong, Butoh, m?ndalas, Africandrumming, and movement or mask-making ssociated with shamanic ritual. hesecourses strengthen students' practicalexperience of the sacred as a culturalactivitys well as a tool forpersonal spiritualgrowth.The kinesthetic dimensions ofthese classes, combined with the technicaland academic approaches offered elsewhere in the curriculum, helps studentsachieve a creative synergy in theirwork.This holistic approach deepens students'awareness of themselves as participantsin cultural dialectic fromwhich physicaland emotional health, meaning, and a renewed sense of personal identity ight bederived.Few courses use only a single pedagogical approach such as studio practiceor academic study using a conventionallecture format.A more typical approachmight be the one used inPhilosophy ofArt,a course required for llMFA students.This course focuses on extensive readingsof a culturallydiverse range of European, Asian and African authors, lecturesby the instructor,nd studio assignmentsbased on the lectures and readings. Lecture topics include aesthetics, mysticism,postmodernism, reception theory, nd cultural theory. he course includes lectures,discussions, and critiques and concludeswith written and verbal presentations bythe students identifyingheorigins of their

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the artist has the responsibilityforsettingan intention in the artwork.The group orindividual critic's role is not to pronouncejudgments on thework, but to investigatethe artist's intentions inmaking it nd tocommunicate authentic viewer responsesto the artwork. Issues of taste, fashion,and personal preference are deemphasized, and the ability todistinguish criticalinquiryfromsuch subjective value judgments is encouraged. The critique groupbecomes dynamic bydeeply examining itsown assumptions about theaesthetic andconceptual requirementsof theartwork. Issues of careerism and externally imposedarbiters of success (real or imagined) aredeemphasized. There is an advantage tothe department's tendency to attract students who are somewhat older than thoseinmost colleges and thereforemore awareof the realitiesof earning a living.

ConclusionThe realities of art and the education ofartists incontemporary society are uniquein ur history. ur culturalparadigms haveshiftedand are continuing toevolve intonew kind of art world. In the midst of anend-of-art-world which Kuspit proclaimshas lost its moral foundations and hasbeen made for the 'street crowd' (Kuspit,2004, p. 142), artists fromJFK are beingencouraged to become a part of a newpost-postmodern world, one which Gabiik(1992) describes as follows:Ibelieve that hatwe will see in henext

few years is a new paradigm based onthe notionof participationinwhich artwill begin to redefine tself ntermsofsocial relatedness and social healing, sothat rtistswillgravitate oward ifferentactivities, attitudes and roles than thosethat operated under the aesthetics ofmodernism, (p. 27)

We can recognize the emergence ofnew cultural paradigms by changes inthosewe most admire?our heroes. Oncethe modern art world claimed EdouardManet, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp,Jackson Pollack, and perhaps AndyWar

hol as itsheroes, but thatworld seems tohave changed. Today, perhaps Ana Medieta,Josef Beuys, AndyGoldsworthy,ZhengDai Jian,Ann Hamilton,Gu Wenda, or BillViola represent the shift from the egotisticvision of the artist-genius to the transpersonal vision of the artist as harmonizer,healer, trickster,nd teacher. If rt is returning oa sense of thespiritual, it ill notbe the old religiousvision ofmonastic selfsacrifice or humorless piety. It ill likely ea new and unencumbered identificationwith the environment and community thatherald a new culture and a new basis foridentity.hat is the vision of the future forwhich Arts and Consciousness preparesits tudents.As artists and educators we learnto trustour intuitionnd sense of directknowledge.We know thatoldmethods areincreasingly incapable of adequately reflectingthenew cultural realities and artistic imperativesof thenext century. he Department of Arts and Consciousness hasdeveloped a beginning point,a way to seeart as healingwithout being therapy. hereare new ways to value artwithout relyingon art galleries or museums, new ways tounderstand art as directmystical experience and teaching without connection toformalreligionsor doctrines. As artists,welearn firsthand thatwe are the universeunfolding.About theAuthorMichael Grady has been the chair of theDepartment ofArts and Consciousness atJohn F. Kennedy University for 12 years.His accounts of the historyand development of theDepartment ofArts and Consciousness are based upon personal accounts related by department faculty ndGrady's direct personal experience.ReferencesColin, . (1999). Bauhaus philosophy: Cultural

critique and social utopia. In J. Fiedler & P.Feierbend (Eds.), Bauhaus (pp. 23-25). Cologne: K?nneman.

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Gabiik,S. (1995/1992),The reenchantmen?fart New York: Thames and Hudson.Gabiik, S. (1985/1984). Has modernism failed?New York: Thames and Hudson.Henderson, L.D. (1986). Mysticism, romanti

cism, and the fourth dimension. In M. Tuchman (Ed.), The spiritual in abstract painting,1890-1985. Japan: Abbeville Press.Kuspit, D. (1996). Happiness, health and relatedanomalies of avant-garde art. In D. Kuspit &L. Gamwell (Eds.), Health and happiness in20th century avant-garde art (pp. 7-46). Endi

cott, NY: Cornell University Press.Kuspit, D. (2004). The end of art. New York:

Cambridge University Press.

Lipsey, R. (1988). An art of our own: The spiritualin twentieth century art. Boston: Shambala.Rosenberg, H. (1999/1972). The de-definition ofart. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Schmitz, . (1999). Johannes Itten. InJ. Fiedler

& P. Feierbend (Eds.), Bauhaus (pp. 232241). Cologne: Konneman.Sullivan, M. (1973). The meeting of Eastern andWestern art from the sixteenth century to the

present. Greenwich, CT: New York GraphicSociety.

Michael GradyJohn F.Kennedy University


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