This is the last day of Anne’s and my art-making hiatus here in Oregon. Besides spending maximum hours in the studio, we’ve also had time for a bit of reading, a little writing, daily walks (rain or shine) a few excursions around the area and often an evening video. We’ve also frequented the library. Maybe more typical of a small town, they’ve let us check things out in spite of being out-of-staters and ineligible for a card.
Among the treasures we found was a 36-lecture series by The Teaching Company on the Italian Renaissance. (We noticed we were the first to check them out.) Those lectures afforded hours and hours of listening and half-listening as we worked.
I’m always amazed when exposed to such at how much has gone before us, how much of it I haven’t known, and how one person could have amassed so much about it.*
Besides the historical appreciation, and better understanding of how we got to be how we are, is the personal take. Each of our lives is in part a microcosm of the larger history. And we may well experience our own personal renaissance.
And that while holding firm to our faith, as many of them also did.
Some of the points that typify the larger Renaissance and our own include:
An appreciation of the value of ideas gone before
An engaged and active mind, and an appreciation for all learning
An elevation of beauty as a high value
The value of elegance in language
Of harmony between form and function in all things
Of architecture, including our own living space
A recognition of a strong economy to support pursuit and patronage
Of love as a general approach to life
A fostering of and appreciation for genius among us
And much more
In summary, some say the Renaissance rediscovered, reinvented and defined the autonomous individual, able to create him or herself according to principles recognized as good.
Seems good to me.
How about you?
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*The Italian Renaissance, taught by Professor Kenneth Bartlett, University of Toronto
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
9:22 am
Hi Hyatt, We are so glad you had such a productive time in OR… as well as celebrating your wedding anniversary (loved those early photos you posted on Facebook). We are interested in your “Personal Renaissance” and would so enjoy this http://tinyurl.com/cdgosr3 as Judy… from my genealogical research turns out to be Italian… not British as many had thought. He family came from a line of Italian lace makers that were brought to England to make lace for the Crown.
5:22 pm
You could easily teach a class on the Renaissance, Hyatt, and we all would be in the front row. How fascinating that series must have been for you two. Glad your retreat went well, it’s something we all need more of, for both perspective and renewal. You’ve evidently received a bit of both! Now get on home, we miss you.
8:32 pm
Liked this one, Hyatt! Very much! Thank you! Lisa
8:51 am
Good summary points of your reading. Yes, we have so much to learn from those who have gone before. If we don’t pay attention to them, we live like we are the only ones to experience the joys and hardships of life. We don’t recognize the larger context or benefit from the wisdom of the ancients.
7:31 am
Hyatt – U R Renaissance!
7:09 am
Allow me to recommend: Lewis, C.S. 1964. The discarded image: an introduction to medieval and renaissance literature.
In the epilogue, referencing models of the universe that have come and gone, he states, ‘I hope no one will think that I am recommending a return to the Medieval Model. I am only suggesting considerations that may induce us to regard all Models in the right way, respecting each and idolising none.’
10:13 am
Can’t say enough good about you. What a wonderful adventure and to share with your life partner is awesome. You two put a very positive label on ‘marriage’……..I commend you.