Skip to content

the awakened eye

art and the intimate unknowable

  • home
  • about
  • pages
  • artisans’ gallery
  • e-books
  • resources | links
  • blog
  • contact

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 trashes habitual dualistic assumptions.

They may use different words to describe this view,
but all infer a relationship 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 oft-overlooked relationship
between creative expression and the unknown/unknowable
can be openly explored and celebrated.

Image: Joseph Mallord William Turner, Waves Breaking on a Lee Shore at Margate, 1840, Tate Gallery.
Turner, and Turner only, would follow and render on the canvas that mystery of decided lines,
that distinct, sharp, visible, but unintelligible and inextricable richness
which, examined part by part, is to the eye nothing but confusion and defeat,
which, taken as a whole, is all unity, symmetry, and truth.
– John Ruskin

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…

Read more art and the intimate unknowable

Artwork by Meg Hitchcock

pages

While the blog presents frequently – if irregularly – updated material, there is a great deal of content published on static pages in this site.
For a display of shortcuts to these pages, please scroll down.
Cast your net into the archives…

Read more pages

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…

Read more artisans’ gallery

recent posts on the blog

  • an uncommon depth of silence
  • misinformation and the creative mind
  • sipping tea, sensing presence
  • I teach how to fit into a world I don’t want to live in. I just can’t do it anymore.
  • seven questions for Leonardo

homage to frederick franck

The purpose of ‘looking’ is to survive, to cope, to manipulate … this we are trained to do from our first day.

When, on the other hand, I see, suddenly I am all eyes, I forget this me, am liberated from it and dive into the reality that confronts me.

– Frederick Franck

popular posts & pages

  • home
  • art and the intimate unknowable
  • nathalie delay
  • claude monet
  • artisans' gallery

useful links

resources | links

e-books - empty canvas : wondering mind

education & courses

fellowships for contemplative artists

the awakened eye archives

If you like what's offered here, you can follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Just click the button. It's safe, and I promise your inbox won't be overwhelmed!

MAKE CONTACT HERE

cookies & privacy

This site uses cookies from WordPress.com and selected partners. Use of this site implies consent: Cookie Policy

would you like to support this project?

At the deepest level
there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient…
only the universe rearranging itself.
– John Kabat-Zinn

 
THANKS FOR HELPING!

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item
  • Follow Following
    • the awakened eye
    • Join 554 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • the awakened eye
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar