Thursday, May 22, 2014

Natural philosophy...




Natural Philosophy
“We should remember that there was once a discipline called natural philosophy. Unfortunately, this discipline seems not to exist today. It has been renamed science, but science of today is in danger of losing much of the natural philosophy aspect.”  Hannes Alfven


"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Axis Mundi...





Axis mundi symbolism may be seen in much of the romance surrounding space travel. A rocket on the pad takes on all the symbolism of a tower and the astronaut enacts a mythic story. Each embarks on a perilous journey into the heavens and, if successful, returns with a boon for dissemination.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

My four year old could do this...






Why Do Abstract Artists Paint or draw Abstractly?
The paradoxical question…Can an abstract artist actually create a pictorial painting?
We’ve all heard the criticisms: “People paint abstracts because they can’t draw,” and “My four year old could have done that.”  I have fielded that questions many times over the last sixty years, my explanation always seems to generate more questions.  I often resorted to cryptic answers in order to end the circular argument.  My favorite response is “art is and I am”. Art is defined as: “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting, drawing  or sculpture.”  Art is not limited to a particular style or subject matter..Most individuals  cannot deal with such a broad statement and they do not see art as a process but as a product. In a process oriented activity we use materials and our own thinking and problem solving skills to create something that is uniquely ours . What we are learning while doing is more important than what it looks like at the end.
Like the history of art, the process of art is linear. As our knowledge and technology grow our perception of the world changes.  Artists explore new ways of seeing and explaining the ever changing environment.  In my own work, I explore the world using symbols.It is study of the heart,soul and mind, creating esoteric connections to the universe. Without symbols our lives would be as spiritually impoverished as sleep without dreams. Our waking life is full of symbolism operating on an unconscious level. A symbol is a sign which opens up or makes transparent insights and truths that were previously hidden.

We are so captivated by and entangled in our subjective consciousness that we have forgotten the age-old fact that God speaks chiefly through dreams and visions.

The Symbolic Life (1953); also in Man and His Symbols (1964)



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Critical thinking...



A Brief History of the Idea of Critical Thinking

"The intellectual roots of critical thinking are as ancient as its etymology, traceable, ultimately, to the teaching practice and vision of Socrates 2,500 years ago who discovered by a method of probing questioning that people could not rationally justify their confident claims to knowledge. Confused meanings, inadequate evidence, or self-contradictory beliefs often lurked beneath smooth but largely empty rhetoric. Socrates established the fact that one cannot depend upon those in "authority" to have sound knowledge and insight. He demonstrated that persons may have power and high position and yet be deeply confused and irrational. He established the importance of asking deep questions that probe profoundly into thinking before we accept ideas as worthy of belief." http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/a-brief-history-of-the-idea-of-critical-thinking/408



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

A non-objective view...



Biomorphic landscape
a non-objective view

Landscape art can be understood as a way of composing and organizing visual space that involves the perception of relationships between images of natural form and us as viewers. Landscape art presents us with a set of concerns that involve the domain of culture as opposed to nature.  We naturalize sensations about such places—wind on our cheeks, a glimpse of sky, the smell of grass and herbs, the particular architecture of a city street—in order to keep the experience fresh. 



"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Shapeshifting...



Therianthrope


Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into animals. Therianthropes are said to change forms via shapeshifting. Therianthropes have long existed in mythology, appearing in ancient cave drawings  such as the Sorcerer at Les Trois Frères

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2014 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.