Role of the Artist

The Role of the Artist in Watershed Times

Article by Academy Director Dana Lynne Andersen MA

We live in interesting times. Our fundamental paradigms of science are shifting and knowledge in every field is burgeoning.  From cosmology to quantum physics, the world we live in has expanded by exponential proportions. Meanwhile, the old world is unraveling- socially, politically, economically, environmentally. We are not facing merely a change of systems, but a profound transformation of civilization itself.  In these turbulent times a new vision is struggling to be born.

In perilous times we need precisely what the arts have to give; the capacity for profound insight, generative creative possibility, expanded vision, epiphany and revelation. We need our prophets and visionaries, our artists and troubadours, seers and mystics.  We can no longer afford a shallow and superficial kind of art. For decades the Arts have pursued the ‘cutting edge’, a mercurial periphery of fashion and fad. The arts, hijacked by materialism and nihilism, must rise from these ashes to re-inhabit the spaciousness of the soul – a territory alone sufficient to meet the pressing needs of our time.

The role of the artist living in watershed times must be to awaken. We are moving from an age of matter to an age of energy. We are operating in a world that is fundamentally different than the world of our forebears. We must all learn to navigate in territories outside the boundaries of what we already know and this is the provance of the Arts. Throughout the ages the Arts have propelled the human mind to territories beyond the confines of ordinary reality. Art has the power to penetrate to core levels of our Being, reaching below the surface to the primeval substrates of the subconscious and above to the highest levels of super-consciousness. Graced among our many human endeavors, the arts have a unique capacity to transport us past the confines of matter, time and space. Intuitive revelations, discoveries and inventions, ‘super-conscious’ solutions and inspired visions stream from this potent font of Being beneath the surface of Becoming.

In a decadent culture ‘originality’ is synonymous with breaking the rules, and ends in  a contest of shock value.  True originality is ‘from the Origin’- that which springs directly from the Source.  The ‘Origin’ is that empyrean in the human heart that intersects with eternity.  This source is the font of Being within each individual, the fountainhead of existence where we touch “God, whose center is everywhere, circumference nowhere.” Mystic, seer, shaman and scientist meet at this confluence; the wellspring is within. When artwork springs from that deep fount, it draws from the same creative potency that exploded the stars into being. Connected with the highest Source within it transmits unswervingly both Truth and Beauty.  Art that touches this origin reverberates in our soul.

‘Awakening Artists’ recognize that art has the capacity to transform consciousness- both personally and collectively.  Around the world ‘troubadours of transformation’ are bringing forth a new renaissance of art, culture and consciousness. The Academy of Art, Creativity and Consciousness is at the forefront of this movement- a honeyed hive for artists of vision who will pollinate the future. At the Academy we approach the Arts from the ‘inside out’. We work from the source within to bring forth a mighty flowing stream of creativity. Students with no talent or experience work alongside practicing artists, together discovering the joy of this inexhaustible fountain within. The results are astonishing; radiant smiles, laughter and the childlike joy in the freedom of self expression. When we open the aperture of the inner life we access a vitality and sense of purpose that reinvigorates our lives. When we activate the genius of our innate creativity we can apply it to every area of our lives- and to the transformation of the world around us. At the Academy we use all the modalities of the arts as vehicles for uplifting consciousness. This approach is simple- available to everyone regardless of skill or experience. It is also profound and life changing.

 

       Around the world ‘troubadours of transformation’ are bringing forth a new renaissance of art, culture and consciousness. The Academy of Art, Creativity and Consciousness is at the forefront of this movement – a honeyed hive for artists of vision who will pollinate the future.  JOIN US!