By Ian Stabler
September marks the beginning of programming in our new location; Springhouse Downtown. As we embark on this momentous journey, I wanted to take a moment and talk about something that is at the heart of why we are providing art-centered programming.
The term “vitality-centered education” can sometimes be difficult to understand. It is a term we use to describe our mission at Springhouse and yet it remains elusive and hard to articulate for me. I believe this is because the “vitality” that we are speaking about, is elusive and hard to articulate. It is a truth that lives at the murky, soul level of our being. We catch glimpses of it and think we know it, only to lose its trail and find a new facet the following day. This is why it takes so much care and attention and love to create vitality-centered education.
As a painter, my goal is to capture images of the vitality and soul within me, those glimpses of truth and beauty that remain half remembered after sleep. The paint and created space that exists through a canvas allow for a solidification and crystallization of the unknowable and give them a body through which to connect with others. This is why we have created a space for art-centered programming, because art and creativity are ways that we can explore and better understand the vitality within us and articulate it in ways that connect and change the world around us.
If we are to build a Regenerative Culture, we must do the work of finding the truth within us and bring it in service to the world. There is no better way that I know of to do this than through art and creativity. Through these practices we can translate the beautiful and dynamic truths we know deep inside us and speak them to those deepest places in one another.
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