Ever since the concept emerged in the eighteenth century, artists, critics, and philosophers have been asking themselves about the nature of art. What is it? What makes things as distinct from one another as a symphony, a poem, and a painting similar enough to warrant a class of objects that includes them all? Even more vexing for thinkers has been the question of what art (if it even exists) is for. What is its end or purpose? Is it to consolidate ideas that come from outside the realm of art? Self-expression? Or was Oscar Wilde right when he defined the artist simply as “the creator of beautiful things.”
In this 8-week course, J.F. Martel, author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, will explore these questions by placing art in the wider context of the human search for illumination. Art, Martel argues, is a means by which we touch the radical mystery of self and world. It is a way of “celebrating our unknowing.” At the same time, the contemplation of great works of art can yield a strange species of knowledge, a gnosis that brings us closer to the Real.
While working through a series of ideas and concepts with their instructor, participants will be invited to (re)discover a selection of great works—paintings, pieces of music, films, and texts—that exemplify art’s revolutionary power. From a theoretical standpoint, Art and Contemplation is a journey into the very depths of the art phenomenon—into its nature, its essence, its magic. From a practical standpoint, the course will equip its participants with perspectives and tools for turning a love of art into a path of spiritual contemplation and personal transformation.
The course is intended not just for artists but for anyone who has been deeply moved by a work of art … and wants to go deeper still.
In this 8-week course, J.F. Martel, author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, will explore these questions by placing art in the wider context of the human search for illumination. Art, Martel argues, is a means by which we touch the radical mystery of self and world. It is a way of “celebrating our unknowing.” At the same time, the contemplation of great works of art can yield a strange species of knowledge, a gnosis that brings us closer to the Real.
While working through a series of ideas and concepts with their instructor, participants will be invited to (re)discover a selection of great works—paintings, pieces of music, films, and texts—that exemplify art’s revolutionary power. From a theoretical standpoint, Art and Contemplation is a journey into the very depths of the art phenomenon—into its nature, its essence, its magic. From a practical standpoint, the course will equip its participants with perspectives and tools for turning a love of art into a path of spiritual contemplation and personal transformation.
The course is intended not just for artists but for anyone who has been deeply moved by a work of art … and wants to go deeper still.
CLASS OUTLINE
Course begins Monday, May 10 and reoccurs weekly at 8 pm Eastern / 5 pm Pacific
Week 1 — Course Introduction: Art and the Imaginal
Week 2 — Radical Mystery and the Origins of Art
Week 3 — True Art and False Art
Week 4 — The Beauty that Saves the World
Week 5 — What is a Symbol?
Week 6 — The Rift
Week 7 — Art and the World
Week 8 — The Aesthetic Universe
Week 2 — Radical Mystery and the Origins of Art
Week 3 — True Art and False Art
Week 4 — The Beauty that Saves the World
Week 5 — What is a Symbol?
Week 6 — The Rift
Week 7 — Art and the World
Week 8 — The Aesthetic Universe
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students will:
- take part in a group reading of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice with the author as a guide and conversation partner.
- have the opportunity to share and exchange on their own experience of the works under discussion, their own interpretations and ideas.
- be initiated into the art of aesthetic participation by applying the theory that art exceeds authorial intent and expresses cosmic realities.
- have the opportunity to renew their sense of existential wonder and implement it in their own practice as creators and/or lovers of art.
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Jean-François Martel is a writer on art, culture, religion, and philosophy.
His essays have appeared in online journals such as Canadian Notes & Queries, Reality Sandwich, The Finch, and Metapsychosis, as well as in print anthologies from Penguin-Tarcher, North Atlantic Books, and Intellect Books. He is the author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, published in 2015 by Evolver Editions. Ediciones Atalanta released a Spanish translation of the work in 2017. His long-form essay, “Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things,” is available in e-book format from Untimely Books.
With Prof. Phil Ford of Indiana University Bloomington, J.F. co-hosts the Weird Studies podcast, a series of conversations on the intersections of philosophy, the arts, and the weird.
His essays have appeared in online journals such as Canadian Notes & Queries, Reality Sandwich, The Finch, and Metapsychosis, as well as in print anthologies from Penguin-Tarcher, North Atlantic Books, and Intellect Books. He is the author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, published in 2015 by Evolver Editions. Ediciones Atalanta released a Spanish translation of the work in 2017. His long-form essay, “Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things,” is available in e-book format from Untimely Books.
With Prof. Phil Ford of Indiana University Bloomington, J.F. co-hosts the Weird Studies podcast, a series of conversations on the intersections of philosophy, the arts, and the weird.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
- Access to 8 live, interactive 90 minute Zoom classes, facilitated by J.F. Martel. All classes are recorded and available for review.
- A detailed class syllabus.
- Access to a Class Portal, where recordings and course materials, and the Class Forum are hosted.
- Connection with a vibrant community of avid readers, artists, and explorers of the imaginal.
Registration: $220
Please note that student/hardship rates are available. Please contact info@nuralearning.com
