The I Ching… A Brief Explanation… 27.11.2013

One of the major things I walked away with from the art exhibit last month was:  although most people have heard of the I Ching, many were not exactly sure of what it was. I looked around for a quick explanation, but found that references to the I Ching online were either too vague or far too wordy. Thankfully, the introduction to “I Ching for Beginners” by Brandon Toropov provides an explanation that may help:

“The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is one of the oldest books of wisdom, one of the Five Classics of Chinese literature, and one of the most influential books in human history. For nearly three thousand years, it has been held in the highest regard as a work of philosophy, an artistic achievement, and, above all, an oracle.

The I Ching is based on the belief that random occurrences – chance occurrences – are not whimsical, accidental, or meaningless; but, on the contrary, chance occurrences are synchronized with some higher wisdom or universal order – if they are interpreted correctly.

After thousands of years, people still consult the I Ching for guidance or advice or when seeking answers to important questions.”

The I Ching is based on a system of eight trigrams: Dragon (or Heaven), Earth, Thunder, Water, Mountain, Wind, Fire and Lake. Each of these trigrams combines with another to create a total of sixty-four hexagrams “expressing sixty-four aspects of life and its changes.”

The most common way to build your hexagram is to toss three coins while asking a question – it is recommended to “make it as specific as possible, mentioning dates, names, and places – but keep it short.  Avoid questions requiring a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer.” Or, you can ask no question at all and the I Ching “will automatically respond to the major issue of your life and advise on your general situation.” (Richard Gill, “I Ching: The Little Book that Tells the Truth”)

I Ching coins

I own both a set of I Ching coins and a deck of I Ching cards, similar to the Western Tarot. Although I have not used them for divination in many years, the cards came in handy at the beginning of the year when I was searching for elements to develop a series around.

The I Ching project is not an attempt to visually interpret the hexagrams and their meanings, but instead use its beautiful, simple structural design paired with the biomorphic designs as basic requirements. In many cases, the design comes first and the hexagram chosen matches my mood or what I am thinking about ~90% of the time. For example, while I was designing the Celtic Knot for “#3 A Difficult Beginning”, I was having an incredibly difficult time attempting a double-knot and I had thought that I had ruined the entire design. I put the painting aside for a couple of weeks and then when I went back to it, everything just seemed to fall into place. Suddenly the design worked. When the time came to name the painting and add the hexagram, I opened the I Ching to #3 – and burst out laughing, the title was so appropriate.

Jenn White

White Rooster Studios

Announcement: Upcoming Shows… 20.11.2013

December has suddenly become VERY busy! I recently joined the Andovers Artists Guild and will be participating in the following upcoming AAG shows:

1)      Rolling Ridge Holiday Exhibit

Rolling Ridge Retreat and Conference Center

660 Great Pond Road, North Andover, MA

Artist’s Reception: December 5^th from 5:30 – 7:00 pm

This show will be up for approximately the next three months, I have submitted: “#3 A Difficult Beginning”.

2)      AAG at the Zeitgeist Gallery

167 Market Street, Lowell, MA

Artist’s Reception: December 14^th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm

This show will be up until December 29^th, I will be submitting: “#25 Remaining Blameless” and “#51 Turbulence”.

Jenn White

White Rooster Studios

Artist Date: Hill-Stead Museum... 16.11.2013

Last Saturday we had an opportunity to visit the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT. In all honestly, this museum would not have been on our radar had we not purchased Connecticut ARTTRAIL passes in June so we could see the Caravaggio exhibit at the Wadsworth Athenaeum. 

Hill-Stead Museum

The Connecticut ARTTRAIL pass (www.arttrail.org) is a brilliant idea – I just wish that more states created arts programs like this: 15 museums and historical sites have united to offer a pass that will allow one visit to each of the participating sites for only $25.00/per pass AND the pass is good for one year. It’s an amazing savings and can pay for itself in only two visits. What I like about it is that it allows you an opportunity to check out other museums you may not have thought about visiting and occasionally you find a gem – like the Hill-stead Museum.

The Hill-Stead Museum is not a museum in the conventional sense, up until the 1950s it was a home (if you can call a 30,000 square foot building a “home”), a working estate. The museum sits on 152 acres and boasts a sunken garden and walking trails – we only had time to check out two of them, but they are a great way to stretch your legs after the tour. And it IS a tour – you are not allowed to wander through the museum on your own… although our guide did mention that you are allowed to do so during their Open Houses.



The Sunken Garden

The tour runs for approximately one hour and the tour guides provide extensive details about the lives of the owners, the Pope family, and stress how the home was designed to complement the artwork. The architect for the home is none other than the owner’s daughter: Theodate Pope, who, according to their website, it the 4^th registered female architect in the country.

In the dining room, you will find Degas’ pastel “Jockeys”, which hangs over a fireplace mantel designed specifically for it, and Whistler’s “Symphony in Violet and Blue”. The connecting Mauve Room boasts three Monet’s, two of which are grainstack paintings, a drawing by Manet as well as his “The Guitar Player”, a small drawing by Henri Matisse, and Degas’ “Dancers in Pink”.

The house has two libraries (and here I am, wishing for just one), one flowing into the other with wonderful window seats and chairs you would love to sink into. A couple of steps down from the 2^nd library you’ll find Mr. Pope’s office, with sprawling views of the property and Theodate’s collection of architecture prints on one of the walls.

The final room on the 1^st floor of the tour is a very modern guest bedroom (complete with private bath) which houses Degas’ pastel “The Tub”. The tour guide will encourage you to study the artwork close up, focusing on how Degas builds up the layers and textures and then step back into the library and see if you can detect a difference in the viewing experience.

Engravings line the stairwell wall, but the tour rushes you through them, instead focusing on encouraging you to hold onto the railing to bring you closer to the “important” individuals who came before you. The tour guide casually mentions that you are walking past 400 years of artistic history as you pass.

In the upstairs hallway, you will see two Albrecht Durer drawings as well as portraits of the Pope family. There is bedroom full of Japanese woodblock prints, disappointingly, this room is no longer open to the public due to the condition of the carpet, so you can only view the prints from the doorway and the only painting of note on the second floor is Mary Cassatt’s “Sarah Handing a Toy to the Baby” in the Green Room.

Throughout the museum you will see an extensive collection of Chinese vases and bronze sculpture, most of which is placed to compliment the paintings.

The tour guides will tell you that these works are not loaned out and the Trust does not allow photographs or reproductions, so this is the only place you will see these pieces aside from the museum’s website: www.hillstead.org.

The only portions of the house that are opened for the tour are the rooms that the Pope family lived in, all of the rooms that their support staff would have used have been converted into offices for the museum volunteers, which is a shame because it would have given a more balanced view of daily life at the beginning of the 20^th century had those rooms been allowed to be preserved and viewed.

I would recommend visiting Hill-Stead in the spring, when the gardens are in bloom… touring the property in the late fall, as we did, felt as if something was missing. The museum hosts many events throughout the year, so planning your visit in conjunction with one could only enhance your experience.

Jenn White

White Rooster Studios


 

People's Choice Award and Works in Progress... 2.11.2013

People's Choice Award

This afternoon my niece, Liz, and I went to pick up my paintings at the Nevins Memorial Library and were surprised to see that there was an additional award hanging near “#25 Remaining Blameless” – it had won the People’s Choice Award!

What had started out as an opportunity to receive some feedback regarding the I Ching Project has far exceeded all expectations I had for this exhibition. My intention was simply to show the pictures, to listen to what the guests were saying about them and to meet other artists. To have won three awards – especially the People’s Choice Award – was completely unexpected.

I would like to thank everyone who came out to see the show and gave me such positive comments and wonderful advice about the direction of the project.

#31 Mingling - In progress

Now I would like to take the opportunity to keep my promise to my Aunites on the west coast and show some works in progress as well as some recently completed ones:


"#45 Mingling" is still in it's preliminary stages, the essential design has been laid out, but none of the shapes have been filled in yet. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but now that the painting has been named, the rest of the design should come pretty quickly.



#31 Attraction - In progress

With "#31 Attraction" I continued my experiment with Chinese lattice work design. I have had difficulty in the past adapting my designs to straight lines, but feel that this has been more successful than previous ones I had worked on. Most of the shapes have been filled in and the next step is to add the hexagram and the Chinese character. The final step will be adding the ink layers.






#58 Truth - In progress

In "#58 Truth", I have continued to work with adding a Celtic Knot to the design. Ultimately, this piece will have a vertical line almost halfway through the painting. The idea is to incorporate the Chinese lattice work on a larger scale.











With "33 Retreat", I decided to move away from a more structured approach and work more loosely. One of the many pieces of advice I received at the show was to try to keep the designs simple, despite my instinct to make them more complicated and challenging.














"#41 Reduction" is actually ironically named, as the Celtic Knot design has actually got more involved and complicated, but the biomorphic design has become more restrained.

"#49 Revolution" is the first painting that I experimented with Chinese lattice work designs. As I mentioned previously, I have had difficulty incorporating straight lines into my designs in the past - mostly failed Celtic Knots containing straight lines - but this design allowed me to see that there is still a lot to be explored before this project is completed.




Jenn White
White Rooster Studios