Teaching and learning symposium also on offer

As part of Community Free Day at Dia:Beacon on Oct. 13, Dia Art Foundation and the Garrison Institute, a local nonprofit that explores contemplative-based approaches to social change, will present a joint program. Taking its title from sculptor Richard Serra, who said, “The art of seeing takes an effort,” the program invites participants to explore different ways of connecting with art on view at Dia:Beacon while considering spiritual themes in art and contemplative aspects of art appreciation.

Roger Lipsey

Roger Lipsey, Ph.D., a member of the local advisory board of the Garrison Institute, will lead the program and give a talk that explores the spiritual aspects of art in religious art in the past and in contemporary art today, only some of which acknowledges a spiritual dimension. Books by Lipsey include a three-volume edition (1977) of the life and writings of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, the Anglo-Indian art curator who explored the spiritual in art and the way of the connoisseur, The Spiritual in Twentieth-Century Art (1988), and the prize-winning Angelic Mistakes: The Art of Thomas Merton (2006).

“Experiencing art can be a pleasurable, revelatory effort of eye and mind, heart and body,” Lipsey said. “Like artists wholly engaged in creating, viewers have the opportunity to be wholly engaged in viewing works of art. There is an art of seeing.” After his talk, Lipsey will lead participants in viewing works in the Dia collection by Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin and Richard Serra.

Dia:Beacon’s Community Free Day

In celebration of Dia:Beacon’s Community Free Day, visitors of all ages can participate in a full day of special workshops, gallery talks, and tours of the collections. All special programs are free with the price of admission to Dia:Beacon. Residents of Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties receive free admission (with proper identification). For more information, visit diaart.org/freeday.

The Garrison Institute’s Education Symposium

In a related event, the Contemplative Teaching and Learning (CTL) Initiative of the Garrison Institute in Garrison will present a public symposium for teachers and educators entitled The Art and Science of Contemplative Teaching and Learning: Exploring Ways of Knowing Nov. 16-18. A growing body of research reveals the benefits of individual contemplative practices such as mindfulness and yoga for K-12 as well as postsecondary education and educators. But interpersonal activities that schools already widely practice, including arts education, can also be contemplative in a broad sense, serve to educate the whole child, and accommodate and cultivate diverse ways of knowing.

The three-day program offers a rich array of presenters, CEU credits, partial need-based scholarships, and opportunities for teachers to reflect, relax and refresh themselves personally as well as develop professionally. For more information, see garrisoninstitute.org.

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Articles attributed to "staff" are written by the editor or a senior editor. This is typically because they are brief items based on a single source, such as a press release, or there are multiple contributors, such as a collection of photos.