|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
This course is designed to offer students an alternative method for approaching botanical science. The artistic elements which substantiate the lecture contents are given as epistemological tools for forming a more dynamic image of the question "What is a plant?" Aesthetic appreciation of plants and flowers can be a great aid in understanding the processes of evolution which stand behind life forms. The essentially creative process of cognizing the forms of plants is at the root of binomial taxonomy the fundamental principle of botany and also at the root of rendering plants through drawing and modeling. As it is with most of the life sciences, in systematic botany the arts and the sciences can come into close contact for mutual enhancement when the art is rigorous and epistemological and the science is phenomenological rather than abstract.
|
|
|
|
The botany block uses the concepts of cosmic and earthly forces to analyze the evolution of plants from primitive thallophytes through the flowering plants. At each step in evolutionary complexity the new development of a phylum is experienced through lecture and wax modeling exercises using the centric/peripheral morphological language learned in the previous blocks.
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
Using the concepts from the color block and the concepts from the block on cosmos and earth the drawing exercises involve sketching from nature as well as working motifs purely out of the color mood of the species. Conversation about color motifs and morphological signatures of various species will precede the drawing exercises.
|
|
|
|
|
The ancient oriental art of flower arranging uses the concepts from the elements of art block, the ratio and proportion block and the meditative discipline from the inner work blocks to bring together a wonderful meditative experience of artistic value and aesthetic insight. The concept of sun, moon and earth as the basis of form serves as the formal working arrangement of varied plant materials in one of the many styles of flower arrangement. Work progresses from the more traditional and classical shoka style to the more contemporary and open ended styles of "flinging" plants. A master flower arranger provides the materials and instruction in this block.
|
|
|
|
