Ensamble & Piedra

 

La Obra de Sara Houghton por J. Calvin Jarrell

 

The night was typically hot and humid, and the day had not been much better.  In the streets I had repeatedly heard many Cubans commenting on the weather with the expression: “¡Que calor!” as they rapidly fanned themselves with a paper fan, a piece of cardboard, or anything else that was flat and could be used to move the air around them.  It was an expression that was used almost like a greeting to begin a conversation.  But, it was the end of July during the week of Carnaval Santiago de Cuba in the summer of 2010 and heat and humidity was to be expected.

I had spent that afternoon with a close friend of mine going to various barrio festivals in and around Santiago.  That evening we went to a friend’s house who was a visual artist doing designer tattoos with a spray gun and a variety of custom made template designs that he had created.  It was at this house that I met a strikingly attractive artist named Sarah Houghton from Bogota, Colombia – who had been in Santiago to exhibit some of her artwork, as well as to conduct workshops in visual art.  She was having a custom made design spray-painted on here face that required her to stand very still.  Fortunately for me, this provided an opportunity to observe her closely without being too obvious about my intrigue.  Art was her profession and indeed she had a special aura about her that radiated the presence of a uniquely gifted artist.  But, even more interesting than that was the fact that she, herself, looked like a work of art.  Her facial features were proportionately beautiful in an exquisite juxtaposition of rugged femininity and earthy delicacy touched by a wisp of gossamer.  Every line and feature of her face looked like it had been carefully etched and carved by a mystic sculptor.  In fact, her face, body, and physical presence, as well as her overall posture, reminded me of the many sculptures in the sculpture garden at the palace of Louis XIV in Versailles, France.

I had not seen Ms. Houghton’s art exhibit in Santiago, or any of her artwork for that matter, but I was fortunate enough to see some of it, and listen to her explain her creative process, during a dinner party at a friends house the following evening.  What I found most intriguing about her artwork was that she did not need to explain any of it – its aesthetic content and meaning simply revealed itself in a gradual process of illumination, as the observer became suspended in an intuitive realm that transcended analytical thought.  Ms. Houghton’s art revealed the viewer equally as much as her art revealed itself – and its creator.  It was clear that she possessed a keen sense of perception, and a unique talent to see patterns that interrelated, that she could skillfully craft, shape, and render into a work of art that had an ever-deepening depth of content.  Simply stated, I was transfixed in a state of “aesthetic arrest.”

Aesthetic arrest is a phrase used by James Joyce in his book “The Artist as a Young Man.”  But, I had not heard this phrase used until I participated in a weeklong Scholarship/Leadership Program, as a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma in the late ‘80s, with the mythologist Joseph Campbell and his dancer/choreographer wife Jean Erdman.  In essence, Campbell described aesthetic arrest as that moment when one is transfixed by a work of art, or an experience that is so exquisitely inspiring or captivating, that the experience suspends the viewer (or perceiver) in a state of timelessness, where linear thoughts are suspended without movement in any direction.  It is the experience of simply beholding an object where you experience an illuminating radiance from it that suspends your senses in a state of awe. Aesthetic arrest is inherent in all classical art that outlasts time itself, or what Campbell described as “proper art.” It is in contrast to political art or social art that is fixed in time or reflects a specific period in time.

 

As a dancer, choreographer, movement theorist, and movement analyst I equated this concept with what T.S. Eliot describes in “Burnt Norton (No. 1 of ‘Four Quartets’)” as “…the still point.”  “Neither movement from nor towards,Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,There would be no dance, and there is only the dance. (http://www.tristan.icom43.net/quartets/norton.html)

I found this experience to be present in Ms. Houghton’s art.  The artwork that I saw had a unique blend of carefully crafted earth elements with a blended palate of earth tone colors.  She seemed to have such a unique connection and understanding with nature that she was able to re-create what only nature could originally create.  Ms. Houghton was able to take rigid earth elements, such as copper, and render it with the soft delicacy of lace and then layer it with other earth elements to give it visual depth, and then finished off with added strands of earth fibers to give it a sense of movement.  The particular piece of art that I refer to begged to be touched and viscerally explored – not just looked at from a distance.  It had nature’s musicality without the notes and nature’s dance without the steps.  In a nutshell, it was dance, music, and art all at once – occupying the same space simultaneously – a visual, physical, and visceral delight of intrigue.

 

Other works of art that I have seen on Ms. Houghton’s websites are equally as captivating – some of it even looks like fine blending of Raku pottery on canvas with touches of nature added in – such as leaves.  It has the effect of opening up a slate of coal and discovering a beautiful fossilized fern or leaf inside of it (see Experimental2tecnicamixta.jpg).  I don’t know how she does it, but I certainly want to see more of it – and some day become a collector of her work.  It is the kind of art that will outlast the artist and become a wise investment in aesthetics that will increase exponentially in aesthetic value over time.

Perhaps what I respect most about Ms. Houghton is that she has the courage to created honest art that stays true to the essence of her vision of how she perceives the world around her – and it is a wondrous reflection.

 

J. Calvin Jarrell is a dancer, choreographer, movement theorist, and Director of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, a Master of Arts degree in Dance from the University of Illinois Champaign – Urbana, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from the University of Oklahoma.  In addition, he holds an advanced certificate as a Certified Movement Analyst from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, and an advanced certificate as a Certified Movement Pattern Analyst Practitioner from Motus Humanus.  Prof. Jarrell has taught, performed, choreographed, and directed both concert dance and musical theatre nationally and internationally.  Most recently, in November of 2010, he was a guest choreographer for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Ballet Santiago de Cuba.  His understanding and love of the visual arts comes from his training as a choreographer, and he often choreographs dances based on significant works of visual art.