OF MUD AND MEDIUM

Arm detail from Moses by Michelangelo

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work several years as a graduate assistant for an artist's atelier, Graphicstudio, at the University of South Florida. There I produced video stories on artists and their work. One of the most important concepts I came to know was the fact that every art medium has it own quantity or quality of resistance. Stone, wood, glass, pigments, etc. The artist must learn to manipulate (mani: hand; pulae: fill) and coax the medium to bring out his or her intent. Learning to work with this inherent resistance is foundational to the very process of becoming an artist. Over time a relationship is constructed between the artist and the art medium. At some point in the process, one becomes a true artist when they learn to instill their own personality or signature into the work itself. A marriage of sorts between mankind and medium.
This type of expression is emphasized by Phyllis Tickle in the chapter, "The Meaning of Mud," in our book The Life of Meaning. She speaks of her experience on the Lucy Goose Farm as one that has come to understand the "resistance" inherent in the natural world in which she exists. Everything is alive and changing. Even the fence posts are on their way out by way of devouring insects. She states that in such a world man is not the measure of all things as is often thought in our modern minds. Measurement is by the more eternal and natural rather than the urban and chronological. Tickle is also a writer and book reviewer. She follows the trends of religion and states that institutionalized religion has lost that natural and eternal quality. That living quality. It has become a medium supremely resistant.
Her example of working with resistance is the prosaic process of kneading dough. A relationship is built between the malleable dough and the efforts of the hands to manipulate it. It is the experience of respect for the resistance of the world that is most valuable for her.
Speaking of resistant mediums, it was said that the artist Michelangelo could envision the completed sculpted figure in a stone block before he even put the first chisel mark to it. He was merely chipping away at the "excess" to release the artistic expression inside. His instilling of personality into a stone block was his signature.
How do we create our own expression of life in a world of resistance? Do we all move off to the farm or do we continue chipping away at the excess from our lives until our true self is expressed from God? What does this say about our perception of others and their attempts to create their signature personality?

Walter Morton for Terra Incognita