Contemplative Art Programs

Shambhala Arts Festival LA

Contemplative Arts

Contemplative Arts comprise a number of secular disciplines and activities, including flower arranging and photography, that integrate art and culture with everyday life. Each of these disciplines represents a genuine contemplative path; together they bring beauty, vividness and wisdom to our lives and culture.

Shambhala Art

Shambhala Art is art that springs from clear perception and pure expression. To artist or non-artist, the creative process often seems mysterious and magical.  How do we give a physical reality to some ephemeral inspiration or abstract truth? How do we create forms that communicate some essential nature beyond the limits of their container?  The Shambhala Art Program's purpose is to explore the creative process and the product we call art from the point of view of clear perception and pure expression.  It is about the source of inspiration, how the creative process manifests and finally how what we create communicates that inspiration. See also www.shambhalaart.org.

Meditation for the Artist

May 14-July 2

Wednesdays 7-10, 8 sessions
(some on campus, some off campus field trips)
Art Center College @ Night, South Campus, Pasadena. 

ACN-018W-01, Noncredit, No prerequisite.

Tuition: $415 www.artcenter.edu/atnight 626.396.2319 or e-mail: acan@artcenter.edu

Meditation for the artist involves applying the disciplines of mindfulness and awareness to your creative and viewing processes.  Art making and art viewing are inherently contemplative activities and naturally benefit from meditation.  Bringing mindfulness and awareness to your process encourages clear perception, true spontaneity, and unselfconscious pure expression.  It naturally dissolves creative blockages and reveals the source of creativity.   With the viewing process, meditation develops your intuition, felt sense, sharpens your native intelligence, and leads toward an experience of the sublime.  This eight-week course will teach meditation and include contemplative exercises to awaken both the creative and the viewing process.  During the first four weeks, perceptual exercises, meditation instruction, and non-objective brush and ink painting will assist you in experiencing the creative process with fresh eyes, fresh senses and an open mind and heart.  During the second half of the course, felt and thought sense exercises, object arranging, and field trip(s) to museums will assist in opening up to a contemplative viewing process that will take you beyond your current boundaries.

Instructor: Steven Saitzyk is an Adjunct Professor Liberal Arts and Sciences at Art Center College.  He is International Director of Shambhala Art, a nonprofit arts education program designed to integrate meditation into the creative process: www.shambhalaart.org.  He completed a Buddhist Seminary and has practiced and taught meditation for more than thirty years.  He has a B.S., CSU; M.T. Los Angeles, Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center. Consultant in the artist's materials industry: www.trueart.info. Exhibiting painter.  Former owner, Ashé Artist's Materials.  Former Biochemist. Publications: Author of Art Hardware: The Definitive Guide to Artist's Materials. Columnist, Site Local Magazine. Instructor: California Institute for the Arts. Member: National Art Materials Trade Association (NAMTA), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), The Professional Picture Framers Association (PPFA).

Shambhala Arts Festival

The Shambhala Arts Festival is an international event during which the entire Shambhala community is invited to celebrate the arts based on Shambhala/Dharma Art principles at their Centers. This festival day is an opportunity to gather artists and help establish the roots of enlightened society. Shambhala Art explores the creative and viewing processes and the product we call art from the viewpoint of a meditative discipline. It is a viewpoint that encourages us to see things as they are, rather than how we imagine they are.

Kalapa Ikebana

In 1982, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche formed a new school of ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) inspired by his own training and vision. Kalapa Ikebana, as this school is called, promotes the study and practice of flower arranging, often working closely with masters of other schools of ikebana.

Kyudo

Kyudo means the way of the bow and can be described as a form of standing meditation. Under the direction of Shibata Kanjuro, Sensei and senior instructors, students learn an ancient form of archery using traditional Japanese bows. Kyudo is a form of meditation practice, not sport, and hitting the target is not considered important. The purpose of kyudo is to purify one's heart and mind to awaken the natural dignity of being human, beyond the obstacles of ambition, aggression or confusion.  See some photos from our practice sessions.

Miksang

"You develop strength in your sight, so that when you look at the Great Eastern Sun you don't become blinded by it. Having developed a dharmic eye, you will be able to see the Great Eastern Sun.

Maitri Five Wisdoms Practice

This practice is based on the principles of the five buddha families, each of which expresses a particular style and attitude of openness. Maintaining a posture associated with each family in five specifically designed rooms heightens the characteristic patterns of energy of each family, so that both the neurotic and sane aspects of the student's personal style becomes apparent.

Mudra Space Awareness

This awareness practice is based on postures and movement from traditional Tibetan monastic dance. Simple yet demanding, these techniques train students in synchronizing body and mind, in relating with space, in maintaining awareness during intense activity, and in communication

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Shambhala Meditation Center of Los Angeles
963 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles,  CA 90041
Tel. 323 255 5472    Email: la@shambhala.org