Greetings XCI #2 - Wayland Academy

alumniartists
One thing about anything that’s a
painting is that it tells you it’s a
painting. It doesn’t pretend to be
something else! So I try to do that in
everything I do, have that certain
feeling of the pigment on the surface
so that you can actually feel that it’s a
painting.
Greetings: In Virginia Woolf’s To the
Lighthouse the plot ends up focusing
almost on the process of the journey to
the lighthouse. One of the main
characters, Lily Briscoe, throughout the
course of the novel is painting, and
Virginia Woolf seems to be suggesting
that it’s not just about the finished
product, it’s about the process of
completing it. To what extent does the
process of painting transform you?
TK: There’s a lot to be said about that.
When you’re painting there’s a certain
thing calling you and you’re responding
to that call. In a way your painting is a
response … The subject matter,
everything that’s out there, plus your
inner awareness, are all becoming part
of one big circle, and there’s that
communication and that thing is calling
to you and you’re responding to it
when you paint. And the feeling of
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doing that is really incredible. If you
look at prayer, for instance, as a call
and a response to a call, a painting
could almost be like a prayer.
Greetings: What do you think about
the state of art and the role it plays in
society?
TK: I think for some reason we’ve lost
a lot of emphasis on art education and
the importance of art. I remember in
the 70’s and 80’s when I was in college
how important art was to people and
being able to have some sensitivity in
looking at art. It was really a part of
being an educated person. And I’m
amazed at how many professional
people I know now who just think that
art is just not something for them at
all. That’s really sad. We have to be
more articulate spokesmen for the arts.
Greetings: Well, why is art important?
TK: Well, art is important first of all
for our own self-knowledge. The
paintings we love become mirrors of
who we are as well. They become like
signposts to our own journeys in life. If
we look at life as a journey that
encompasses awakening both to
ourselves and to a greater awareness of
what we are connected to then art can
become a very important part of that
because it’s a very holistic type of
knowledge. It encompasses everything.
When we put all of that together, the
instinctive, the emotional and the
analytical, we put that together in
some relationship. Then the
possibilities of what we understand
from art are really huge.
Greetings: Tell us a little bit about the
class you’ve developed, “Learning to
See.” What are your goals there?
TK: “Learning to See” is based on this
whole concept of integration. It is a class
about self-knowledge because as soon as
the student starts to draw and starts to
access this certain attention within them
that allows them to draw and to design
things and become more visual, they
really see themselves in a different way,
and they really experience themselves.
Their whole sense of “I am” becomes a
little bit different, and that’s really
exciting to see.
Plus, learning to see color: most
students come in assuming that they
see color and I’m amazed at two things: