The Secret Language of Form

The Secret Language of Form: Visual Meaning in Art and Nature

In drawing attention to the fundamental elements of form inherent in all graphic and sculptural art, Van James opens our eyes to the alphabet of the language of form. Through the simplest of indications, we find ourselves able to read the meaning of works of art from other cultures and times. We begin to know these cultures and peoples in ways we could not know through oral and written language alone. Likewise, we can begin to read the language that Mother Nature speaks through the form of every created object and being. We can join those on the cutting edge of a new science that investigates the spiritual forces at work within physical phenomena through exact perception of qualities of form. For everyone who is fascinated by nature, art, and life in different cultures.

Contents:

• The Formative Nature of Art: Primal Images; Archetypal Forms (Curve and Straight; Point and Dot; Circle and Spiral; Chevron, Zigzag and Lattice; Ladder, Spine and Tree; Symmetry; Cross and Swastika Archetypal Themes in Art (Mandala: Picture of the Universal Self; Labyrinth and Maze: Journey to the Center of the Universe; Thread and Knot: The World Weaves)
• The Formative Art of Nature: The Essential Gesture; The Open Secret

About the Author

Van James is a Hawaii-based artist and author, a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Emerson College in England, and the Goetheanum Painting School in Switzerland. He is an art teacher, co-director of an adult education program, and editor of Pacifica Journal. As an artist, he has exhibited in Europe, the U.S., and Japan. His paintings have received awards and are found in numerous private collections. He is a freelance graphic designer and writes articles for journals and magazines. In 1991 his book Ancient Sites of Oahu: Archaeological Places of Interest in the Hawaiian Islands won an award for excellence, and in 1998 Ancient Sites of Hawaii was published. Van James is chair of the Anthroposophical Society in Hawaii and lives on the island of Oahu.