Friday, March 20, 2009

Back to my roots

And I don't mean the Boy Scouts.
I mean Bournemouth College of Art
It was where I (or should I say we ) cut our creative teeth ; we being the Bournemouth Boys aka Maestri, Blatchford, Fassnidge, Drury and me, Eldridge. Oh, and a host of brilliant part time lecturers ('cos brilliant and exceptional is what they were) Yes, the then Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design; now called The University of Art (I think)
So, there we all were at this sort of reunion exhibition. crowds of people and very well organised too. Over the weekend we got to talking about those inspired years where we worked and taught intuitively and in a spontaneous fashion in a way which could not be possible now; nor even understood.
Most of all, talking with Tony Maestri, I was made most powerfully aware of the influence Krishnamurti had made not only on us personally, but on our teaching philosophy at the College of Art. Every summer he and I (with our kids in tow) would make it out to Brockwell Park for Krishnamurti's summer seminars to listen to yes, but more to simply absorb his words and his presence. I remember driving to the Park one summer in the late eighties I think it was, up from Italy to spend the weekend there at his seminar. I'd been out of touch for a couple of months in the Tuscan hills and I'd arrived to find the place almost deserted and gloomladen, he'd died a couple of weeks before. That was one earthquake of a loss but, after this Bournemouth experience, his life and words and influence have come flooding back.
Tony Maestri (http://tonymaestri.com/Books/Intro.html)has all his books, I've lost most of mine but have gotten another from Amazon. Recommended reading indeed. You should read Tony's books, too, which draw heavily and at times emotionally on Krishnamurti and his brilliant understanding of consciousness.

Look at this.....























Nice eh? You can buy Tony's books from his site above (a gentle plug)

1 comment:

Italian lover said...

I love the sacre cuore! What depth and what complexity!