There are different ways to learn something, place, or body. Scientific thinking, which rules our educational programs, values discursive knowledge above other types of knowing. Learning from the outside never worked for me, I could never retain the facts very well because they seemed unconnected from life. Data just seemed it was always from the outside and I couldn’t make sense of the information. Deep knowledge, a type of learning that engages us in our senses, emotions, and intuition works for me. This knowledge stays with me and adds to who I am and how I relate to and understand the world. It’s an obvious connection that I teach from an immersive education platform.
This past month I discovered John Mayer. Yes, I know. He’s an international pop star. But I don’t listen to the radio really. In my search for guitar and lyric driven music I thought I would try him out. After a month of listening to all of his early music – a lot . I moved on to his most recent album/disc/collection…which – as the critics say – is different from his previous music. This is true in many ways. For me the time with Mayer’s music is all about learning how another artists crafts their reality through their art. Architect, poet, painter or musician, we all build a world through the art we make. We build off of each other too, borrowing sensibilities, quoting each other , referencing our own work back again. The immersion in another artist can be a mediation for us to muse from.
As far as Mayer, it is his song number 6, Born and Raised, that is Jackson Hole this fall. Melancholy. The days of half light. Slow moving after the tourists have gone. Moose drinking from Fish Creek. Reminding me of the late 70s when JH was “discovered”‘by those who made the place what we experience today. I meditate on the feeling of JH and what it means to me as a place while driving down the road and listening to this tune. Give it a listen.
Within all of this immersion is my own art. I began painting again in January. After many years of not painting. In Louisiana the work was all sunlight reflecting off of water. It was the Tao te Ching. In Bozeman my work has been like a bullet ricocheting off of hard surfaces. But it is coming to rest now. I have moved from smaller works on paper to large paintings. The one attached to this blog I just started. It’s about 7’x8’. I am learning what the work is about. But I cannot really tell you in words yet. Maybe I could play it on guitar, though.