The Epic Everest

"investigated in all directions"

During the preparation stage, the problem is “investigated in all directions” as the thinker readies the mental soil for the sowing of the seeds. It’s the accumulation of intellectual resources out of which to construct the new ideas. It is fully conscious and entails part research, part planning, part entering the right frame of mind and attention. Wallas writes:

"The educated man has, again, learnt, and can, in the Preparation stage, voluntarily or habitually follow out, rules as to the order in which he shall direct his attention to successive elements."

-- Graham Wallas on the Four Stages of Creativity, 1926, via brainpickings.
(the other three are Incubation,  Illumination, Verification)

Preparations

Aaron Hegert

Aaron Hegert

Art is, for me, the process of trying to wake up the soul. Because we live in an industrialized, fast-paced world that prefers that the soul remain asleep.

- Bill Viola

“Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. I have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to do this.”

― Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley 

(found here)

wrist preparation

Wrist preparations.
 These are golden!

Viviane Sassen

All works part of Pikin Slee by Viviane Sassen, currently on show at The ICA.

Recommended Read: A Guide to Better Movement

I'm currently working my way through A Guide to Better Movement by Todd Hargrove, and even though I'm not done yet I highly recommend it! Todd presents recent work in neuroscience, and his extensive background in a variety of sports and movement practices, to guide an understanding of the psychological and physiological whys behind movement patterns and habits. Once your brain has finished digesting there are lots of practical puzzles and 'exercises' to try out for yourself, which I have personally found very usesfull when teaching my students how to map basic movement patterns. 

If you want to know more then check out Todd's Better Movement Blog (which the book consolidates) and have a listen to this interview over at Liberated Bodies. 

Happy learning!

preparation...

“Give me 6 hours to cut down a tree and I'll spend the first 4 hours sharpening the axe.” 

--Abraham Lincoln

Sunday Tune

Sunday Tune

Saturday Poem

Skin Stealer 

This evening I unzipped my skin
And carefully unscrewed my head,
Exactly as I always do
When I prepare myself for bed.
And while I slept a coo-coo came
As naked as could be
And put on the skin
And screwed on the head
That once belonged to me.
 Now wearing my feet
He runs through the street
In a most disgraceful way.
Doin' things and sayin' things I'd never do or say,
Ticklin' the children
And kickin' the men
And Dancin' the ladies away.
So if he makes your bright eyes cry
Or makes your poor head spin,
That scoundrel you see Is not really me
He's the coo-coo
Who's wearing my skin.

-- Shel Silverstein

Saturday Cartoon

Measuring the movement of the skin from Govert Flint on Vimeo.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

“It is not so incomprehensible as you pretend, sweet pea. Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard. It can be light as the hug we give a friend or heavy as the sacrifices we make for our children. It can be romantic, platonic, familial, fleeting, everlasting, conditional, unconditional, imbued with sorrow, stoked by sex, sullied by abuse, amplified by kindness, twisted by betrayal, deepened by time, darkened by difficulty, leavened by generosity, nourished by humor and “loaded with promises and commitments” that we may or may not want or keep.

The best thing you can possibly do with your life is to tackle the motherfucking shit out of it.”
― Cheryl Strayed

(print by Adrian Henry)

Love is...

Love is...

Love is feeling cold in the back of vans

Love is a fanclub with only two fans

Love is walking holding paintstained hands

Love is.

Love is fish and chips on winter nights

Love is blankets full of strange delights

Love is when you don't put out the light

Love is

Love is the presents in Christmas shops

Love is when you're feeling Top of the Pops

Love is what happens when the music stops

Love is

Love is white panties lying all forlorn

Love is pink nightdresses still slightly warm

Love is when you have to leave at dawn

Love is

Love is you and love is me

Love is prison and love is free

Love's what's there when you are away from me

Love is...

-- Adrian Henri (poem and print)

Nadav Kandar

Nadav Kandar

"What makes the photograph possible ... is that in the photo it is a question of the body: it is the body that grasps, and it is the body that is grasped and released. It is the body, its thin surface that is detached and removed by the film. This is the physics and the chemistry of the instant, the force of gravity of the click, this curvature, space and this impalpable lightness of a vision that precipitates and coagulates into a thickness of skin, a density of touch."

-- Jean-Luc Nancy

the solace of soaking

I love baths. Unfortunately I don't have one, so I like to make time to search out heat, steam and icy cold plunge pools every once in a while. Luckily, there is plenty to chose from in London. 

They say time heals all wounds, but time is a luxury and sometimes afflictions need a faster balm. The subtle indulgence of soaking, plunging, steaming and melting purges tired bones and minds of ailing aches, enlivens the senses, opens the pores and soothes beyond the surface of the skin. 

I highly recommend searching out the weightlessness of water and giving yourself time, every now and then, to just be. 

(Image by Nadav Kander)

Recipe: stuffed salt and vinegar potato skins

This is sooooooooooo tasty (and simple!) check out the recipe over at Kinfolk.com.

Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith, Untitled (Skin), 1992, cast aluminum

"I think I chose the body 
as a subject, not 
consciously, but because it 
is the one form that we 
all share; it's something that 
everybody has their own 
authentic experience with."

-- Kiki Smith 

Bloom Skin

BLOOM SKIN Issey Miyake from WOW inc on Vimeo.

image by Mariah Robertson

Nadav Kandar

Nadav Kandar

skin and bones

"My skin is kind of sort of brownish pink yellowish white. My eyes are greyish bluish green, but I'm told they look orange in the night. My hair is reddish blondish brown, but it's silver when it's wet. And all the colours I am inside have not been invented yet."

--Shel Silverstein

John Coplans

“it was me there but it wasn’t me”

John Coplans