Classes at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation

Aesthetic Realism itself arose from Eli Siegel's explanation and teaching of poetry. He is the critic who showed that poetry—because it is fair to the whole world and oneself at the same time, because it is logic and feeling as one thing, because it puts opposites together—answers the questions of every person's life. This class, taught by the Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism, continues what Eli Siegel began to teach in 1938: “Poetry...is the oneness of the permanent opposites in reality as seen by an individual.”

A prerequisite for attending this class is some previous study of Aesthetic Realism, either in Aesthetic Realism consultations or through at least one semester of another Aesthetic Realism class.

Ellen Reiss is the editor of The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, where her commentaries can be read online.

Looking at the art of the world in New York museums and galleries—from the tomb sculptures of ancient China to the latest work in Chelsea—we study how beauty in all art is a oneness of opposites.  The classes are based on Eli Siegel's lectures and essays, including "Art As Flexibility," "Art As Energy," "The Drama of Hardness and Softness in Painting."  Once each semester there is a joint Art and Anthropology class in which primitive art is studied.  

Schedule of classes - Current Semester  

You can visit Ms. Rackow's website: Marcia Rackow: Artist, Educator, Aesthetic Realism Consultant.

Alternate Saturdays, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Terrain Gallery classes: 12:35 - 2:35 pm
Note: Museum fees are additional.

Each semester accents either drawing, pastel, or watercolor.  The opposites of purpose and technique, seeing and imagination, logic and emotion in each student are encouraged to work together. Summer classes take place outdoors—for instance, in Central Park and Washington Square Park.  Some subjects are: Intimacy and Grandeur in Still Life; How Much Can Small Objects Mean to Us?; There Is Space In, Around, and Between Things.

Some of Mr. Koppelman's works can be seen online by clicking the following links: "Confrontation, 2"; "The Dark Angels" a prize-winning drawing reproduced in the NY Times; "A Selection of Works on Paper."

Works in process by persons engaged in the visual arts—painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography—are looked at and discussed with Eli Siegel's 15 Questions, "Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?," as the critical criterion.  There is class discussion, and some questions asked are: What is your intention?; What is the relation of subject matter and technique?; What is your criticism of the way you see?; As an artist, what do you hope for?

See Dorothy Koppelman's painting "Conversation of Two Red Pots."  
 

This interactive workshop for teachers of all grades and subjects—from reading to science, history to mathematics—is based on the following Aesthetic Realism principles: (1) "The purpose of education is to like the world"; (2) The greatest interference to learning is contempt, "the addition to self through the lessening of something else"; (3) "The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites."The workshop includes demonstration lessons, consideration of class plans, and discussion of how to meet the needs of individual students.  The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method is making possible unprecedented changes in New York classrooms: Fury and racism at last can end!  Students at every level learn—including reading—with an ease and vivid interest new in the history of education.  

Visit the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method pages for articles by teachers and information about study in person and at a distance.
 

Alternate Saturdays, 12:30 - 2:00 PM

People, everywhere in the world, from the grasslands of Africa to the tents of Asia and Native America, are understood through the principles of Aesthetic Realism: we are all trying to like the world aesthetically, as a oneness of opposites. All humanity is akin: kind and cruel, accurate and wild, powerful and delicate—trying to put together opposites in ourselves.  Through Aesthetic Realism, anthropology is essential knowledge for us to know ourselves and do away with prejudice.  

See Dr. Perey's website Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology and his novel Gwe: Young Man of New Guinea—a novel against racism.

• Current Semester: Anthropology is About You & Everyone

Alternate Wednesdays, 6:00 - 7:30 PM 

This class is based on the Aesthetic Realism principle "Art is that which, through an individual, shows the oneness of the permanent opposites in reality." We study music—from Bach's Magnificat to Duke Ellington's "The Mooche," from the Gregorian Chant and the music of Ghana and India to contemporary Rock 'n' Roll—in relation to lectures and works by Eli Siegel, such as "Music Tells What the World Is Like" and "Animate and Inanimate Are in Music and Conscience," and Martha Baird's "Separation and Junction in Prokofiev and Johnny Dodds" and "Music Is Real."

Visit Edward Green's Aesthetic Realism and Music site along with Anne Fielding's Actress, Aesthetic Realism Consultant and Barbara Allen's The Aesthetic Realism Understanding of Music & More: websites belonging to the teachers of The Opposites In Music class.

Alternate Sundays, 4:00 - 5:30 PM 

This class studies singing as a making one of opposites—ease and intensity, high and low, continuity and discontinuity, freedom and accuracy—opposites that everyone, including the singer, is trying to put together in himself or herself.  With that basis there are vocal exercises dealing with the fundamentals of singing—such as breath support, resonance, legato, and agility—and individual work on songs.  The aim is a oneness of the finest technique and the fullest sincerity.  Beginning, intermediate, and advanced singers are welcome.

See Ms. Wilson's faculty biography and her article "Aesthetic Realism Explains the Beauty of Jazz and of Duke Ellington"

Alternate Fridays, 6:00 - 7:30 PM

The basis of this workshop is in the following explanation by Eli Siegel: "According to Aesthetic Realism, acting shows that you don't have to be fettered to yourself.  You can be other people....Acting is a certain way of taking the contraries of the world.  It is a way of being somebody else for the purpose of coming back home immediately. You take a trip in order to find out who you are."  Students take part in improvisations and prepare scenes and monologues from contemporary and classical drama, including works by O'Neill, Pinter, O'Casey, Shakespeare, Sheridan, Molière. 
 

Visit Anne Fielding's Actress, Aesthetic Realism Consultant site.

Ms. Fielding is Director of the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company.