I have just returned from an interesting three days as a participant on a course about the arts, held at the Community of the Resurrection, in Mirfield. Sessions were led by experienced professionals from the theatre, music and painting, with a very stimulating contribution about cinema (surprisingly)from one of the members of the Community. It was can unusual experience be required to think about the arts in a detached way, rather than just throwing myself into practise, immersing myself in the task of creating something. That requirement to adopt a position of detachment is relatively unfamiliar …. and quite demanding. It was interesting also to experience the way in which representatives of quite different forms of artistic practise are ablate reflect on common problems and areas of interest.
I was struck in particular by the illumination I received from Jude Clark, who spoke about theatre. He spoke about the importance of “giving oneself permission”, as an actor, to inhabit areas of action from which one might normally exclude oneself. Looking back on my own (long-past) amateur acquaintance with theatre I remembered the difficulty I had with playing an authoritarian military figure. It was quite an effort to allow myself to go there. I managed it, in the end, by making my character a Scotsman. Might it have been both easier and more convincing had I permitted myself to go there without the necessity of embarking on an ethnic “detour”? In this respect Jude talked about the importance of “getting oneself out of the way.”
Interesting as this idea was in relation to the theatre, it has struck me since that it also has its application in the field of painting. To abandon a picture because “I don’t paint like that” might be the worst thing you could do. I remember finding it impossible to go along with my teacher’s encouragement to me to explore a greater degree of abstraction in my work. “I just don’t paint like that!” Well: why not? Did I lose an opportunity by allowing myself to get in the way, refusing to “give myself permission”? There’s plenty to think about there, I believe.