 |
|
|
Artists Create, Flourish at Clarke College |
|
What nourishes your soul? What in the world creates for you even a moment of inner delight? Perhaps it's a stroll down a boulevard of flowering trees in early spring, a finely crafted poem, a winter sunset, a sweet cello concerto, or the agile movements of a beautifully marked animal. Whatever its cause, the result often surprises and disarms, leaving you breathless. Sometimes, the artist, in providing soul-nourishing experiences for others, recognizes that making art similarly benefits the artist as well as the viewer. In my conversations recently with four Clarke College artists, I discovered that, for them, soul-nourishing is an individual business, as varied as the materials and subjects with which they work.
For each of them, slowing down and paying attention, crucial elements in both making and viewing art, provide soul-stirring experiences. Slowing Down to See
In creating a piece of art, she continues, “every decision I make can be a carrier of meaning; there are so many opportunities. I have to slow down and think about it.” Louise, who says that she experiences a sense of awe in unexpected places, states that in the act of making art those experiences are translated to “formal arrangements that draw the viewer into an act of attention…. This…transformative process yields form that is beautiful to the attentive eye.” Louise will spend a portion of the summer in Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium, where she will continue work begun there in 2005 on a series of prints related to the writings and community life of the Beguines, a group of 12th Century mystics. Paying Attention
Helen, Clarke's Professor Emerita of Art and artist-in-residence at the college, continues, “The fun of doing abstracts is that you don't always know what they're going to be! I like to dive right in and not know at the outset how it will turn out.” With quiet enthusiasm, Helen muses, “Abstracts have a lot of motion, big gestures, beautiful paint.” We can learn to look for this, she says. Digging In
Before Joan Lingen, BVM became Clarke's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, she taught art history at Clarke, and she remains passionate about the importance of experiencing works of art. So important is it to her that she still leads alumni tours to Italy, Paris, Vienna and Greece, places historically known for preserving ancient art. We learn from the past about the past, but it's necessary to ask the right questions. “The art historian asks about the background of the piece, where it was done and why,” Joan says. “So much of art is about global issues,” she continues, “rather than about one time and one place; and often the visual is only one part of the art. Sometimes, the piece was created as part of another action such as dance, music, ritual.” To the art historian's eye, so much is revealed about the people, the civilization, the culture. Joan recalls that when she took part in archeological digs in both Arizona and Virginia, she thought always of the people from whom and about whom the artifacts related. “Who were they? What did they do ? What did they think about?” As she speaks, Joan's eyes light up; she can barely wait for the next tour or, perhaps, the next dig. “I have my suitcase always packed,” she says; “Just ask me to go on a trip and talk about the art of the place or be a part of a team doing an archeological dig, and I'm gone!” Rock Bottom
Rocks take on huge significance for this lover of clay. “I call myself a potter,” says Carmelle, BVM and Associate Professor of Art at Clarke. “However, she continues, “usually my art is not made for any particular purpose. It would not be considered functional.” In fact, she adds that sometimes her art might be considered by some as ugly and useless; “my favorite pots would not always be considered beautiful.” On the other hand, Carmelle confides, making pots is a soul-stirring experience, tactile and sensual; with a twinkling eye, she divulges, “Throwing a bowl is the comfort food of working with clay.” Joy of Teaching While the tension between doing or making art and teaching art will probably exist as long as there are artists who also teach, it is clear that for Carmelle and Louise, currently active teachers of art, teaching itself can be a soul-nourishing experience. “My art informs my teaching and my teaching informs my art” asserts Carmelle. “They are one; they are my heart and soul.” And Louise states simply, “I love teaching; for me, it's choosing to be generative, to pass on life.” Certainly, teaching takes time away from making art, but it is clear that for these two artist-teachers the lines of distinction between the two, more often than not, blur and blend. When Helen Kerrigan finds the time, she plans to finish the painting of her father, J.P. Kerrigan, a brakeman for the Milwaukee Railroad. The life-size painting stands along one wall of Kerrigan's Clarke studio. She painted it from a 1918 photo of her father in his brakeman's uniform. “And then I want to paint my sister Alice,” Helen says. Alice, a BVM (Lois Ann), the youngest of the Kerrigans, died just months ago. Helen notes that it is important for her to create a portrait of Alice, even if no one ever sees it. If making art is, as Carmelle Zserdin insists, “a personal event, a dialogue between the artist and her or his materials” then it becomes unspeakably a soul-nourishing experience. Likewise, for the viewer or the spectator, the work of art, be it in a museum, an ancient site, an art gallery or an art class, can indeed create that moment of inner delight. About the author: Pat Nolan, BVM (Frederick Mary) is on the faculty at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa. Return to Table of Contents. |
|
“So much of my work comes from the daily things of life—the everyday things. I need to pay attention...,” says Louise Kames, professor of art and chair of Clarke's art department. “For example, my installation entitled ‘Dear Mother' began with my sitting at the funeral of a BVM friend and staring at the worn letters on the Sacramentary...” 
Discussing the pleasure of creating an abstract painting, BVM Helen Kerrigan agrees that paying attention is a significant part of the process. “You sit down and look and don't know what to do next, always keeping at it…” There is an inner connection with the work-in-process. 
Places of ancient art and ruins feed BVM Carmelle Zserdin's soul as well. “I love clay. I love rocks,” she admits. “Some of the most awesome experiences of my life have been around rocks in places like Mexico, Japan, the Machu Picchu in Peru and Stonehenge in England. Nobody can stand in such places without feeling a power, an essence or a spirit. Something here is more than anything else you know. Often it's so beautiful it makes me cry,” Carmelle confesses.