What is the awakened eye?

Many artists and artisans have found that the practice of drawing,
and/or engagement in creative encounters in the visual arts
can open the mind to another way of seeing,
a way that transcends habitual dualistic assumptions.

They may use different words to describe this transcendence,
but all infer a relation ship with something inconceivably larger
than their everyday experience, something referred to here as
‘the intimate unknowable.’

This site is a Temenos of sorts – a sanctuary where
the often overlooked relationship between art and the sacred
can be openly explored and celebrated.

Image: John Ruskin, Study of a Sprig of a Myrtle Tree

Claude Monet - Arm of the Seine near Giverny in the Fog [1897]

art and the intimate unknowable

THE AWAKENED EYE is the eye that perceives without labelling; we could also call it the innocent eye or the eye of beginner’s mind. Many artists and artisans have found that the practice of drawing, and/or engagement in creative encounters in the visual arts can open the mind to another way of seeing, a way that transcends habitual dualistic assumptions…

pages

While the blog presents frequently, if irregularly, updated material, there is a great deal of content published on static pages in this site. These pages are gathered into three broad categories – to view a detailed list please see the pages index.

Cast your net into the archives…

artisans’ gallery

The artists and artisans featured in this gallery are those who have made explicit – via their own writings or in interviews – an acknowledgement of their creative practice as either a means toward deeper engagement with the intimate unknowable, or expression from that mystery. Both contemporary and historical artisans are included…