"Before you can express anything in tangible form, you first need eyes to see. The mere attempt, therefore, to create an artistic form compels the artist to take a fresh look at the visible reality; it requires authentic and personal observation. Long before a creation is completed, the artist has gained for herself another and more intimate acheivement: a deeper and more receptive vision, a more intense awareness, a sharper and more discerning awareness, a more patient openess to all things quiet and inconspicuous, an eye for things previously overlooked. In short: the artist will be able to perceive with new eyes the abundant wealth of all visible reality, and, thus challenged, additionally acquires the inner capacity to absorb into her mind such an exceedingly rich harvest. The capacity to see increases."

- Josef Pieper

BEHOLDING:
CONTEMPLATING A WORK OF ART

Looking at a single new work of art, really looking, over time is an extraordinary opportunity. Allowing whatever comes to mind during the period alloted for looking is key. When this practice is repeated over and over with the same work, a unique quality of knowing occurs: an attention to the details and wholeness of the other brings with it a genuine and personal connection. Developing this kind of awareness, separate from intellectual acquisition of information and analysis, expands our capacity to be open not only to art but all experiences of newness and of the other.