The Art of Seeing Takes an Effort

The sculptor Richard Serra said that seeing art takes an effort; Roger Lipsey, PhD, would like to show that it is a pleasurable, revelatory effort of eye and mind, heart, and body. Taking its name from Serra’s idea, “The Art of Seeing Takes an Effort” is a program during which visitors will explore ways of making a lively, felt connection with art at Dia:Beacon while considering two topics: spiritual elements of past religious art, and contemplative aspects of art appreciation. Lipsey suggests that anyone can move toward becoming a connoisseur—a practitioner of the art of seeing—through a quiet, attentive approach to works of art. As artists wholly engaged in creating works of art, likewise visitors are given the opportunity to be wholly engaged in viewing the works. Lipsey utilizes ideas to serve as guidelines in these efforts of seeing, which he borrows from the writings of an Anglo-Indian art curator, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, a pioneer who explored the spiritual in art and the way of the connoisseur.

The program will start with an ideas session (approximately 30 minutes), during which participants will look at the meaning and uses of art in earlier societies and contrast that with how people can best approach art today. Next, the group will enter the galleries (for approximately one hour) to spend time with the works of Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, and Agnes Martin.

Roger Lipsey, PhD, has been exploring and writing about the spiritual in art since his three-volume edition (1977) of the life and writings of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, his first mentor in the arts. He is the author of The Spiritual in Twentieth-Century Art (1988, available as a Dover reprint) and the prize-winning Angelic Mistakes: The Art of Thomas Merton (2006). A member of the local advisory board of the Garrison Institute, he can be expected to bring scholarship, a contemplative perspective, and poetic insight to Dia:Beacon.

The Garrison Institute is nonsectarian, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization applying the transformative power of contemplation to today’s pressing social and environmental concerns, and helping build a more compassionate, resilient future. Each year, it presents about 60 retreats and programs supporting personal growth and social change, some focused on contemplative practices from diverse traditions, others on resiliency and leadership training for professionals in key social and environmental change fields.

The Institute’s Contemplative Teaching and Learning (CTL) initiative introduces educators to evidence-based mindfulness techniques that can enhance their well-being, create healthier school environments, and improve educational outcomes, and which are now being implemented in K–12 schools across the US. Its Climate, Mind, and Behavior (CMB) program connects insights from social and behavioral sciences to spark new thinking about sustainability and climate change solutions, including behavioral approaches to reducing emissions and energy use. Its Wellness Project works to develop resiliency trainings for human service providers, humanitarian aid workers, and volunteer and professional caregivers.