We sometimes say dreams when we want to say hopes, or wishes, or aspiration. But how else can art’s capacity to produce recognition of an unknown humanness be described? How can the recognition and reflection of ourselves in works of art be made part of a conversation? Can paintings have empathy for us? Our stories are an abstraction of the experience of life. And at the same time our abstractions are stories. Through the story, the abstraction of art, we see through another’s eyes, eyes that in turn rely on our eyes and our stories to be seen and heard.

Ashford and Bellfatto will experiment in the shared space of a simultaneous talk to think through what we can take from art to shape and reshape our inner condition, to lend it a vision in resonances of thought, feeling, light, color, motion, and sound.

Propositions is a public forum that explores ideas in development. Each two-day seminar introduces a topic of current investigation in an invited speaker’s own artistic or intellectual practice. Over the course of a seminar session, these developing ideas are responded to, researched, and discussed to propel them forward in unique ways.