Deceptively Simple
Michael Fisher
R. Michael Fisher, PhD, is a visual-performative artist, holistic-integral educator, fear scholar, and author of nine books, and numerous published articles and monographs. Fisher’s art work conveys the socio-ecological implications of art tainted by a capitalistic-driven secular mentality. His art as inquiry approach reflects his passion for encouraging lifelong, critical, and creative pedagogy of environmental consciousness through the medium of stone and other found objects and processes. His teaching at the Natural-Cultural-Spiritual interface of realities is aesthetically interesting to him and it becomes part of his artist residencies in community settings with adults and children. Dr. Fisher (or He) is currently writing a book on utilizing the arts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with his life-partner, artist, teacher, researcher, Barbara Bickel. This new book, entitled Art-Care Practices for Communal Engagement, is slated to be published in 2022 by Routledge.
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I love how children at times can be potently philosophical. I was reflecting the other day on an encounter with a four-year-old at the daycare and kindergarten, where I am currently an artist-in-residence. Though most of my time has been making a stone sculpture installation from a million small stones in constant change. I had a dump truck load of “gravel” dropped on the site. I chose to have it out at the edge of the daycare parking lot interfacing with the larger community of the area. Now and then I venture from the outside to the inside, behind the fence and onto the campus grounds of Nanaimo Innovation Academy. I would demo and/or teach in various mediums, not as “art education” but rather “art as inquiry.” From many memorable moments, I recall a particular one:
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"After engaging the children with various creative activities and getting them to think ‘outside the box’ and/or to experience a box-is-not-a-box, I delight how these event-encounters, happenings, bring me into a mutual-causal relationship to art itself. At one point while presenting to a class, I was innocently confronted by a four-year-old child, who effectively stopped me in my tracks: “Artist, why are you here?” Caught off-guard but intrigued, I smiled, paused, and answered in some quite shallow, if not inane way; and then moved on to other activities with the kids. Again, after 15 minutes, a second, and an hour later, a third time, the same child, without any obvious affect on his face or sense of frustration, curiously asked me, “Why are you here?” It’s a profound contravention to everything called normal politeness, and challenged the expectations of what children are supposed to be as learners when in the presence of a visitor, a resource person in their classroom. The intervention on the part of the child to disrupt the everyday (adult) world of someone, like Michael, who thinks he knows what he is doing—it’s brilliant!
For weeks, I pondered, and it disturbed my very identity essence. Now, that’s artful relationship—that’s the magic of something happening—that’s where education ought to channel our beingness, in and out of confusion, and inadequacy...and, ultimately, onto something ‘bigger’ than ‘all about me’—or ‘all about art’ and so, I concluded, from that experience: purpose of presence in relation, is important. Thinking deeply about it, is equally important, and to do so more than once."
I could write a dissertation on this five-month artist residency. I’ll settle with the story above to offer a taste of what happened and continues to happen. Art for me is a happening and if it doesn’t challenge the core of your identity, flush you through with the unpredictable, the risk of failure-death, and bring you to dread—then, I think art is rather dead. I dumped the stones, I worked the ruins, mostly alone, but many co-participated—known and unknown others. This show “Deceptively Simple” is a euphemism, if not an absurd joke—when faced with the processes of socially-engaged art. I love (and hate) these artist-residencies.
R. Michael Fisher, Nanaimo, BC, Nov. 20, 2021
For weeks, I pondered, and it disturbed my very identity essence. Now, that’s artful relationship—that’s the magic of something happening—that’s where education ought to channel our beingness, in and out of confusion, and inadequacy...and, ultimately, onto something ‘bigger’ than ‘all about me’—or ‘all about art’ and so, I concluded, from that experience: purpose of presence in relation, is important. Thinking deeply about it, is equally important, and to do so more than once."
I could write a dissertation on this five-month artist residency. I’ll settle with the story above to offer a taste of what happened and continues to happen. Art for me is a happening and if it doesn’t challenge the core of your identity, flush you through with the unpredictable, the risk of failure-death, and bring you to dread—then, I think art is rather dead. I dumped the stones, I worked the ruins, mostly alone, but many co-participated—known and unknown others. This show “Deceptively Simple” is a euphemism, if not an absurd joke—when faced with the processes of socially-engaged art. I love (and hate) these artist-residencies.
R. Michael Fisher, Nanaimo, BC, Nov. 20, 2021
Stone
Stone is a medium that inspires me to think "outside the box" and engage with "deceptively simple" elements. I think of stone as an embodiment of simplicity, she conveys the natural flow and spontaneity of the present via the bodily connection between the mind, soul, and memory. You can see where I am and the state of my inspiration for stone art. I think of art and education as an experience of what I like to call "new intelligence capacity" -- organic, unconstrained, untainted by formal rationality - one that leaves us reeling like a merry-go-around filled with unnecessary complexity. Once we break down the stereotypical approach in art and education, we can allow more risk, excitement and impressions to emerge, yet with pathways connecting to the experience of living fully and regression to innocence.
Contemporary artist Monica J. Brown, writing about stones in her exhibition at the ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL (June-July, 2021): |
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Artist: "Did You Know. . . "
(responding to a child’s painting) I’ve never copied a child’s painting But just this exceptional once. Watercolour memories transferred Easily, I captured the essence Two days later, there it was again. A month later, I studied the traces Brush still configuring the body and gaze Something comes alive, again, since the First day I saw it. I remembered. I came apart and fell together With her beating wings I could see but not touch A vision of artists meeting. So I wrote a poem about her and her painting: Winged soul, a frail one Born from above Yet, too soon clipped Wings dropped Shed a tear. Winged soul, a little one Torn from above Left to dress up An angel’s dress and colour Pinked and imagined purple Stockings Shed a tear. Back viewed portrait As if going to a party Yet shied by all boisterousness Child set aside Black sheeped hair a float Carrying on clouds, Sad, shed a tear. |
Entering class as an artist-in-residence
This kindergarten whole One of the many, she came to my rescue “Did you know, I love art?” “No, I didn’t know.” Gratitude beyond gratitude We covidly distanced But nothing would keep us apart. One day later at a P.D. for her teachers I listened to them share Pedagogical narratives Nothing much interested me until This child’s Name was entered. She was talked about by staff Having just accomplished the other day A major ‘D’ step or task Gross motor Development They said. . . Call it what you will The winged soul performed spontaneously: “She zipped up her zipper finally, without any help from the teacher.” Staff cheered. I kept my/her painting a secret Copied from the real While encountering it up On her Kindergarten wall. I shed not a tear I bled not a drop Falling asleep tonight I’m remembering a spot Left between and apart Left where magical lives, Left to be artists. . . touched Touched as winged souls. R. Michael Fisher Nanaimo, BC Nov. 17, 2021 |
A kindergarten child's painting of 'child with dress' with a digital mash-up piece of important elements I am looking at in my artist residency
(Acknowledgement: Rene Magritte, The Castle of the Pyrenees, 1959 painting is used as one of the components in this image)
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Creativity
Jean Gebser, 1949, p. 313 |
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Death Coat - The Artist Wears Down
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This image is a photoscan of once pure white lab coat, purchased at the beginning of the residency. The children were allowed to color on it with felt markers. The artist (me) wore it during my times working on campus with the children. Eventually, it was rained on while working with the stone sculpture outside and colors faded, marks were lost. Children’s artistry disappeared. The final stage of the artist-residency was placing this coat in the stone pile ½ buried, and pulling it out 3 weeks later, of which the following markings of mud made from dust and rain on the stones, left behind as traces, much like the children’s markings, a “coat” of which represents a birth, death, and transformative rebirth as possible—for “the Artist.” The children called me “The Artist,” throughout the five month residency, as that was fine with me.
R. Michael Fisher, Nov. 24, 2021 |
Memorial
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This image represents my installation of the 'child' with stones, flowers, and my drawing. 'Memorial' is one of the themes of my art-residency. It is about connecting the past significance and the future of the world, and the increasing collapse of that future in terms of today's children and their world being left to them from adults - as in the cascading crises on the ecological, social, and political levels upheaval and destruction.
R. Michael Fisher, Nov. 26, 2021 |
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Stone Memories
Please click here for a publication on this residency in Artizein Arts Teaching Journal:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/atj/vol7/iss1/15/
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/atj/vol7/iss1/15/
Acknowledgement
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First, I would like to thank the Founder-Manager Keely Freeman of the Nanaimo Innovation Academy for allowing me to work on her property as an artist. Thanks to the many daycare workers, school teachers, other staff members for all your assistance and support and to Ryan for making signs for my installations. Gratitude to the Snuneymuxw First Nation ancestral care-takers of this land I worked and played on, along with all the other beings and relations I encountered during the residency, including people who walked by from the larger community. To Antje and Cheryl for your generosity to invite me into pedagogical narration for the sake of building-communities of wellness, you have been a blessing. Thanks to Antje for contributing several photos to the exhibition, and thanks also to Bo Freeman (4 yrs old) and Bea Jacobs for their art and photo respectively. Hug for Pauline Sameshima and her assistant Xuechen Yuan, so great to work with you and your caring curation on your gallery website and financial support of this residency. To all my other funders – without you I couldn’t have done this. Big Loving embrace to the gracious children who entangled with my working through process with the arts, the stones, and our co-creativity at times that blew me away! And to the many others who assisted in diverse ways, including parenting and caregiving adults... Thanks. My final appreciation goes to my partner, Barbara Bickel, for her serene support by taking photos and doing rituals with me.
R. Michael Fisher
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Closing Thoughts by Curator AssistantI’m honoured to be part of this journey with Dr. Fisher. Dr. Fisher's work reflects my long-held belief that art as a pedagogy needs to be a way of communicating the lifeworld and the world of aesthetics, which I have yet to implement. The humble experience of working with Dr. Fisher greatly embellishes my impression of the state of nature and art. It guides me to expand my imagination into a deeper sphere of aesthetics, and attend to the spontaneous details of our lives that are overwhelmed by the stream of time, fixation, and rationality. I am eternally grateful to Pauline and Michael for thIs opportunity to learn and grow as a student researcher.
Xuechen Yuan
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