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Free Columbia: Spiritual Activism, or What Does Our World Need Now?
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by Laura Summer
The date was September 14, 2009. Thirty-five people sat in a circle in Bright Wing Studio in Hillsdale, New York. Names traveled around the circle, the history of painting in that studio was described, memories and hopes for the future were voiced, the feeling of “dropping in” from a nine-foot skateboard ramp was mentioned. And Free Columbia began.
But what does free mean?
Free Columbia is an intensive exploration into art, Goethean observation, anthroposophy, and social change. When we talked about starting Free Columbia we realized that it would have to be available to everyone no matter their financial situation. It would have to be supported and free. But what does free mean? To create something free meant to create a vessel into which inspiration was free to flow, for teachers, for students. It meant expanding a form to include the unexpected, the challenging, even the unadvisable. Many people said not to do it. And not to call it free. That people would not support it, that they would take it for granted. And sometimes that is true; but mostly not. People have rallied around the principle of accessibility. The community holds us up. At the moment we have forty people making monthly pledges. We have
run for six years now and although we do sometimes run out of money it always flows back in quickly enough. We provide all of our programming without set tuitions or materials fees; we encourage everyone to donate.
Inside the Free Columbia Space at 84 Main St, Philmont NY
Students doing an exercise in color after-image
In six years Free Columbia has grown from a little painting program in the studio behind my house to an initiative including many people working in a variety of ways. Here are a few snapshots from over the years:
From a little painting program...
outside (right) the Free Columbia Space at 84 Main St, Philmont NY
In our third year eleven full-time students finished the program of painting, drawing, and puppetry with an exhibit of the year’s work held at a space next to the Family Dollar store in Philmont, New York. This exhibit in the middle of the town was reflective of our year which saw us moving out into the world around us. Our summer conference, concerned with artistic experience and the future of art, was held at the Basilica Industria in Hudson, NY and was attended by 45 people from many countries including Finland, Israel, Italy, and France.
In 2013/14 (our fifth year), eight people participated full-time, 120 people in part-time intensives locally and in California, Oregon, and Washington, DC. Over 1000 people saw the 2014 puppet show, "The Legend of the Peacemaker". In Free Columbia’s four “Art Dispersals” 295 works of art have been dispersed. Donations to support free culture were accepted from the recipients.
Free Columbia Painting Studio 2015
The movement in the soul
What is art? What is freedom? According to Rudolf Seiner art is the movement in the soul created by the sculpture, painting, music, etc., that the person is observing. How do we move souls to become more alive, more balanced, more productive of a future that values truth, goodness, and beauty? At Free Columbia we teach our students to locate soul movement: the quality realm. How does blue make you feel, how is it different from red? We learn to quiet our sympathies and antipathies and to ask what is here, what language does it speak, can I enter into the conversation if I learn the language? This is a way of developing perception of non-material reality. It is a way to make anthroposophy practicable.
Between darkness and light, between one color and another, between one tone and the next, there is movement. In a conversation with Jesuit priest Friedhelm Mennekes, Joseph Beuys said, “Christ is in the movement.” Can we experience this? We can perceive here if we quiet our inner chatter and observe. In art we are working in a way often different from everyday concerns. We are learning to observe reality, see what is needed, and then to act. What is freedom? What is responsibility?
Free Columbia mural in Harlemville, NY, 2014
And then to act
Next year we will offer a six-month full-time course on perception through color in relation to social change, a low-residency intensive on painting, a module on social threefolding, and perhaps a program in sculpture, as well as ongoing practical arts classes, performances, children’s classes and camps, classes for developmentally disabled adults, classes in the prison, summer and winter intensives, study groups and conferences. Next summer’s two-week intensive will be on Rudolf Steiner’s sketches for painters. All accessible to everyone. All supported by gifting. All in all, a very engaging way to work with spiritual science.
In the spring we will also take our financial model to a new level. We will run a campaign to pay forward one-third of our operating expenses. With one-third coming in in monthly pledges and one-third expected from donations throughout the year, a successful campaign will make it possible for Free Columbia to work without a monthly worry of running out of money.
Free Columbia mural in Philmont, NY, 2014
“Work cures everything.” — Henri Matisse
If you are interested in our work, would like to participate in any way, or would like to help us move forward, please visit www.FreeColumbia.org. And see the Gallery (pages 33-36) in this issue for work from Free Columbia.
