Human Freedom through Art

 STI Rotaract club Vigan City Integrated Art Workshop 

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." Thomas Merton**

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                                                      Art Instructor

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente Ilocos Sur

A pool of  colors

 

 Painting with the hand beside the brush freely releases

 these ardent young painters the expressions of their thoughts, 

emotions, and imaginations happily and courageously.

The Hand

The hand speaks of the mind and the heart,

 actions good and evil, and deed, 

mirrors the spirit, cast the rainbow of life; 

 imprint of one's life indeed. 

 

Workshop on Integrated Art attended by officers and members of Rotaract Club of STI College, Metro Vigan Ilocos Sur, at the author's residence.  August 11, 2019 

The Way

Wonder to where the road leads,

 the stream of life flows, 

the stars in time and space,

as a man or woman grows.  

Red Sky

Rage, rage, rage! 

when the Being is gone

and life an empty stage.

 

Protolife

Living but for a moment like passing breeze,

haploids of heredity searching their other halves - - 

the wholeness of procreation - omnipotent,

singular, mysterious,  beyond man's grasp. 

  

Crossing the Bar*

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crossed the bar.

*Last stanza of Crossing the Bar is an 1889 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It is considered that Tennyson wrote it in elegy; the narrator uses an extended metaphor to compare death with crossing the "sandbar" between river of life, with its outgoing "flood," and the ocean that lies beyond [death], the "boundless deep", to which we return. (en.wikipedia.org) AUTHOR's NOTE: The original title given by the painter is "Prison in the Sky"

Home, Sweet Home - The Bahay Kubo

 

Above the doves of peace and unity,

the glow of burning light of the city;

 endlessly rages the sea down below,

belies this bastion of long ago,

 

 

 

 

 

Workshop participants take pride in showing their works 
and in interpreting them individually.


 Workshop participant shows demo work of author which he won in 
a raffle among his fellow participants at the end of the session.

 Participant stands before a mural painted by the author.  His work is
 reminiscent of  the Impressionism movement in France at the end of 
the 18th century. Dynamic movements of arts can be traced invariably
 and often unconsciously in the works of young artists and enthusiasts.  

* August 11, 2019 - Rotaract clubs bring together people ages 18-30 to exchange ideas with leaders in the community, develop leadership and professional skills, and have fun.‎ Rotaract originally began as a Rotary International youth program in 1968 at Charlotte North Rotary Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, and has grown into a major Rotary-sponsored organization of over 10,904 clubs spread around the world and 250,792 members in 184 countries. Motto: Self Development - Fellowship Through Service

** Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism, and writings on peace, justice, and ecumenism. ~

Talking to a Hippo

        Talking to a Hippo

"It's your greatest hour as survivor,

       I'm your emissary;

talk on behalf of your kind and others,

      against your enemy."

                      Dr Abe V Rotor

The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), 

or hippo, is a large, mostly herbivorous, semi aquatic

mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only

 two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the 

other being the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis 

liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis). The name 

comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse." 

(Reference: Internet)

Photos taken by the author at Avilon Zoo, San Mateo, Rizal, 

January 3, 2018, 3rd birthday of Markus, author's grandson.

   

He is all alone in a wide, wide pond, 

     survivor of a big herd;  

whatever happened to its long time kin

     hasn't really been heard. 

I asked Hippo junior, a name I coined;

     it hid under a mat of duckweed

carpeting the pond green from any view,

     he was shy and naïve, indeed. 

I asked about the native hippo in Africa, 

     in Asia and Australia,

its relationship with other species
     under Class Mammalia. 

I was talking with books I had once read,
     a time long, long ago,
when man was not enemy of Nature,
    a record and history, too.

"It's your greatest hour as survivor,
     I'm your emissary, 
talk on behalf of your kind and others, 
     against your enemy."

Hippo Junior suddenly lurched  and jumped,
     words spewed out, thundered, 
in anger, hiss, nothing kind, 'cept moaning, 
     crying barely heard. 

"How long will he be alone here, warden?"
     my question unanswered,
I looked around, hills once a watershed,
     at sunset gleaming red. ~     

Lesson from THE LAMP

 Lesson from THE LAMP

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
- John Cotton Dana
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Abe V. Rotor

Teaching is an art. It is an art of the masters - Aristotle, Plato, Christ, and many great teachers of the Renaissance that brought the world out of the Dark Ages. While we have developed modern techniques in teaching, it is important to look back into the past.

Florence Nightingale, founder of the nursing profession hold the proverbial Lamp. Photo Credit: Internet, 

It is looking back at the lamp that enabled our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, to write his last masterpiece, the lamp Florence Nightingale held over her patients at the warfront, the lamp that made Scheherazade’s “one thousand and one nights” stories, the lamp a Greek philosopher held high at daylight “searching for an honest man.” Or the lamp fireflies make and glow with the spirit of joy and adventure to a child.

But why do we look back and ponder on a tiny light when the world basks in the sunshine of progress and development, of huge networks of learning, of high technologies in practically all fields of endeavor? I’ll tell you why – and why we teachers must.

But first let me tell a story of a computer enthusiast, who like the modern student today relies greatly on this electronic gadget, doing his school work so conveniently like downloading data for his assignment. So one day he worked on his assigned topic – love.

He printed the word and set the computer to define for him L-O-V-E. Pronto the computer came up with a hundred definitions and in different languages. Remembering his teacher’s instruction to ask, “How does it feel to be in love?” again he set the computer to respond. And you know what?

After several attempts, the computer printed on its screen in big letters, “I can not feel.”

Where is that main ingredient of human relations – feeling – today?

• Where is the true feeling between teacher and student?

• Where is the feeling of joy at the end of a teaching day, in spite of how hard the day had been?

• Where is that tingling feeling of the student for having recited well in class?

• Where is that feeling in singing the National Anthem, the school hymn?

• Where is that feeling Rizal felt when a moth circled the lamp in his prison cell while he wrote, Mi Ultimo Adios?

• Where is that burning desire that drove Michelangelo to finish single-handedly the huge murals of the Sistine Chapel?

• That drove Vincent Van Gogh to madness – madness the world learned a new movement in the art – expressionism - years after?

• That kept Florence Nightingale, the founder of the nursing profession, make her rounds in the hospital in the wee hours of the morning?

• The lamp that strengthened Plato’s resolve to change the way people should think in the light of truth and justice.

Feeling. There is a song Feelin, and the lyrics ask a lot of questions about human nature changing with the times. I do not think human nature has changed. It is as stable as Nature herself and the natural laws that govern the universe.

What we are saying is that our ways are changing. The conformity of our actions is more with the rules we set rather than the philosophies on which they are founded. It is our quest for want above our needs that has blinded us and benumbed our feelings, that has taken us to the so-called fast lane so that we no longer see objects as they are, but abstracts, that has made us half-humans in the sense that we spend half of our lives dealing with machines – who have no feelings.

What then is modern man? I am afraid we have to review some of our references on the Janus-like character of man, like -

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

• The Prince and the Pauper

• The Princess and the Frog

• The movies - Mask, Superman, Batman, Spiderman

• Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter

• Cartoons and animated movies

The doubling of characters in man has led him away from permanence. Today, the biggest crisis in man is his impermanence. Impermanence in his domicile, nay, his nationality, political party. Affiliation in business and social organizations, and most disturbingly, with his marriage and family.

When was the last time we said to ourselves – or experienced - the following.

• It’s a weekday for my family and nothing else.

• How I wish I can help my child of his math assignment.

• I’ll teach only this year and will find a more rewarding job after.

• I think it’s time to settle down.

• I want to go to a concert and enjoy the fine art of music.

• Can’t I put all my ideas in a book?

• It’s always meeting – can’t we just talk?

• This dizziness, it must be the pressure of my work.

• Maybe I can concentrate on my thesis this time.

• I have not finished reading “Da Vinci Code”.

• This summer I’ll be with my parents.

Here are ways by which we can brighten up our lamp amidst the factors that test our dedication of our profession as teachers.

1. Be yourself. Be natural.

2. Keep on learning

3. Be a model of your family and community

4. Relax

5. Use you faculties fully and wisely

Be Natural

Naturalness is a key to teaching. I saw a film, Natural with then young award-winning Robert Redford as the principal actor. It is a story of a baseball player who became famous. The central theme of his success is his naturalness. Naturalness in pitching, batting - in the sport itself, above all, in his relationship with his team and fans.

Our students can easily sense our sincerity. They shun from us if we are not. They cannot fully express themselves, unless we show our genuine love and care for them. Develop that aura that attracts them, that keeps relationship easy to adapt or adjust.

Be a Model

A teacher must have more time for himself and for his family. Teaching is an extension of family life. And this is the primordial stimulus that makes your family a model family and you as a model teacher – because you cause the light of the lamp to radiate to others. And it is not only the school that you bring in the light. It is the community because you are also lighting the lamp of others, including the tiny glow in your young students. When they get home, when they interact with their community in whatever capacity they can, even only among their playmates, relatives and neighbors, they are in effect sharing that light which is also the light of understanding and unity.

Relax

Great achievements are usually products of relaxed minds. Relaxation allows the incubation of thoughts and ideas. Churchill found time to paint during the Second World War. In his relaxed mind he made great decisions that saved 

Great Britain and countless lives. Or take Einstein for instance. His formula which explains the relationship of energy and matter in E=mc2 was drawn out from casually observing moving objects - train, heavenly bodies, marbles. Galileo watched a huge chandelier in a church sway with the breeze and later came up with the principles of pendulum movement.

Darwin (PHOTO) studied biology around the world as if he were on a leisure cruise, and summed up his findings that founded the most controversial Theory of Evolution by means of natural selection. An apple fell on Newton’s head when everything was still. Examine closely the parables of Christ. How relaxed the Great Teacher was in telling these stories to the faithful. The lamp shines the brightest when there is no wind. When held high with steady hands and given time to examine things around, views become clearer, and the more certain we are along our way.

Use Your Faculties Fully and Wisely

Our brain is made up of the left hemisphere, the thinking and reasoning part, and the right hemisphere, the seat of creativity and imagination. Together they reveal an enormous capacity of intelligence, which are pictured in eight realms. These are

1. Logic
2. Languages
3. Music
4. Spatial
5. Interpersonal
6. Intrapersonal
7. Kinesthetics
8. Naturalism

From these realms the teacher draws out his best qualities. He explores, decides, adapts, entertains, leads, and stands courageously to lead the young.

Here he sows the seed of knowledge. And in the young the seed grows, and grows, which the educator Henry Adams expresses in this line.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

x x x

Black-and-white photography lives on.

 Black-and-white photography lives on.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Students taking up photography, photojournalism, humanities, and related subjects will find these photographs valuable in appreciating black-and-white photography, reviving the first and original technique since the prototype photograph was made, surviving more than a century to the present. (Note: Sepia creates the brownish effects on some photos, a method of fixing and preservation B&W photographs.)

Part 1 - Assignment for my classes in photography (UST Arts and Letters): Write a paragraph or a verse (or both) for each of five photos of your choice. Print individually with the appropriate explanation and impression. Critique both the message (concept and idea) and the technical aspect (based on the elements of photography). Compile in a folder and submit.

Part 2 - Convert color photos into Black-and-White.  Choose five (5) of your own photos (original) and convert them using your computer's Adobe photo editing program. Show original photos for comparison.  Do the same with the converted photos as in the first part. (See samples below)

  
Acknowledgment: Photos above are award winning photographs, Canon Photo Contest '96

Part 2  Comparative Photos by Dr Abe V Rotor

 
Balete Tree on Mt Makiling, Laguna
 
Kalumpang Tree, Tandang Sora, QC

 Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

The Art of Etching: 10 Giorgio Morandi's Etchings

   10 Giorgio Morandi's Etchings

Giorgio Morandi made etchings at a time when etching was a sort of specialized art. Etching dominated the process of printing images, illustrations in books and other publications, as well as sculptural and architectural works. With the development of modern printing, etching lost its practical value, so with its popularity, but it evolved into the use of metal, ceramics, and other media. It is to Morandi et al, that the art continues to occupy a distinct place in the world of art through forms and applications, such as relief etching and photo etching. 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

I had the opportunity to view Morandi’s works exhibited  at the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel, in 1992, and I could only express my awe and appreciation to both the skill and the peaceful and composed person behind these masterpieces.   

1. Still Life with a Large Poplar 1927

2.  Still Life with Four Objects and Three Bottles 1956

 

 3. Still Life with Five Objects, 1954

 4. Large Still Life with Eleven Objects, Circular 1942

5. Landscape, Grizzana 1932 

 6. Still Life 1933

7. Still Life with Pears and Grapes 1927

  8. Still Life with a Small Bread Basket 1921 

 9. Landscape, Grizzana 1932 

10. Still Life with Bottles and Jug 1915

Acknowledgement: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and The Tel-Aviv Museum

1 comment:

breadonJune 11, 2016 at 4:33 PM

Commercial printmaking in Morandi,s time was tge photomechanical halftone dot ,photogravure and also lithography. Artists had revived an older technique that had gone in the late 18th century. when lithography and photomechanical methods surpassed it with speed .Morandi.s etching required no mechanical rapid method of reproduction for magazine newspaper or products and allowed the artist hands on involvement with a process that combined direct drawing and timely use of etching mordants. Lines and tonal depth could be organise by first drawnin lines thick or thin or subsequent use of time when the plate was in the etching bath. This combined with hand inking and printing by the artist fascilitated individual decisions of subtle qualities in the print not seen in multiple mechanical commercial printing.ReplyDelete