They went up to the mountain...
Jesuit Artists' Workshop II at Mount Abu
By Rappai Poothokaren, SJ

Ten Jesuit artists from six provinces of South Asia gathered at Glen View, Mount Abu on 15 April, 2005 for the second Jesuit Artists' Workshop (See pic on 15). Five of them were priests, and five scholastics. Three priests were around 60 years old, and all the scholastics at the philosophy stage or below. My impression is that there are more Jesuit artists out there in the Assistancy who did not, or could not, come.

This year the Missionprokur office of the German Jesuits supported the Jesuit Artists' Workshop, a true international collaboration in the Society of Jesus. P.J.Joseph, JESCOM Secretary for South Asia, was at Mt. Abu to inaugurate the workshop. He made some concrete suggestions to create greater visibility and space for Jesuit artists. Then the the artists began to work silently in the beautiful Glen View Campus, engrossed in their own spiritual/creative world.

Wendell D'Cruz, a well known Jesuit artist, who could not could not make it, sent a special power-point programme on a CD, explaining his growth as a Jesuit artist, and giving us a glimpse of his many and varied artistic works. Wendell felt supported by his superiors in his artistic pursuits. The three points that his then Provincial put to him are relevant to all Jesuit artists: 1. Demonstrate that this was not a passing fancy - today art, tomorrow who knows what! Show consistency, perseverance. 2. Your seriousness to your calling as a Jesuit artist will show itself in your commitment to the other tasks required of you as a scholastic. 3. How will your work as an artist relate to the other works of the Province? The last thing the Province wants is another free-lance Jesuit who no one knows what he is doing!

We had two Adivasi scholastics from M.P., Alius Lakra and Shanti Prakash Tirkey, who were studying 'drawing and painting' at an Art college in Bhopal. The fact that some provinces send their talented young men to pursue art studies is a very hopeful sign. Sch.Thomas Carter of Dumka Raiganj province studying science in Chennai rushed after his final exams.

Fr.K.J.Chandy spent all his life as a Jesuit in the field of agriculture at the national level, from Indian Social Institute, Delhi. His artistic talent remained dormant, till it bloomed again now. He has developed a unique style of 'painting' without paint! He burns beautiful images on wooden boards with a soldering iron. He works in oil, and in computer graphics too. He seems all set to launch a new chapter in his life dedicated to art.

JAW I veterans - Blaise Benedict, Vijay Gonsalves, Roy Thottathil, C.M.John were there. Aubrey Fernandes worked on cartoons. Blaise concentrated on a marble sculpture. The others worked in oil, acrylic and water colour. . We had a delightful Hindu sculptor with us at JAW II, Sanyasi Red, a committed social activist in his native Bihar. He got us three big marble pieces free from the quarry owner near Ambaji. From six in the morning to eight at night he cut, chipped, chiselled and polished the block of marble into a piece of beauty. In the ten days he not only completed a 36 inch marble sculpture, but also helped Blaise to complete his marble sculpture.

At night each one presented his artistic career and past works of art. We appreciated, critiqued and discussed the works. Some have or are in the process of acquiring degrees in Art, while others are totally self-taught artists. But all had to discover, nurture and develop the call to artistic expression. There is no doubt that most great artists combine inborn talent with systematic and rigorous training.

Another aspect of artistic creation that came up in the sharing was the intense involvement of the artist in the process of painting/sculpting/… The theme, the inspiration, the urge to express take possession of the artist. Painting the recent 'Tsunami', one of the participants was flooded with painful images and memories of the reality. For another, painting was a prayer, a creative and nourishing prayer. A painting/work of art does not emerge so much from the head as from the heart.

A Jesuit artist's mission is defined as much by his artistic skills as his life as a Jesuit. His life's orientation, commitment and spirituality 'colours' his art, and gives it the power to communicate his mission as a Jesuit. That is why art for a Jesuit becomes his ministry, his mission. As very creative people, Jesuit artists may need to be given a wider 'space' in life to work. That he does not fit as smugly as others into the 'Jesuit pigeon holes' does not make him any the less a man with a mission. Our commitment to the MAGIS is multi-dimensional. By our very vocation, Jesuits are 'frontier' people in the Kingdom of God, not 'settlers'. From that perspective, we are called upon to explore and venture beyond the present frontiers and discover new pastures than to consolidate and settle down.

Like all prophets Jesuit artists too have their share of woes in their prophetic role. Not all the woes come from superiors or confreres, or even the establishments. Their own creative impulses, the intensity of their imagination and vision, and the struggle to express it faithfully and effectively in art can be painful. The Jesuit Artists' Workshop provides a forum for gathering and sharing, for critique and questioning, for exposure and interaction with Jesuit and non-Jesuit artists. Our fond hope is that that would give the participants greater space in their life as Jesuits, and provide the challenge to continue to tread the path of the MAGIS. Looking into the future, some areas of exploration and action emerged: Making a list of all the talented Jesuit artists in South Asia is a priority. -Collecting digital photos of all the art work of Jesuit artists, past and present. - Getting Jesuit artists to write articles about art in relation to spirituality, our Jesuit Mission, Church etc - Preparing an exhibition to be taken to our Common houses, and other institutions - Helping to sell some of the Jesuit works of art, so that Jesuit Artists have funds for their artistic work. - Preparing two/three posters for the Triple Jubilee celebration of Ignatius, Xavier and Faber this year.

When our God-given talents bloom fully and contribute to the welfare of all, the glory of God is achieved. As men of the MAGIS and AMDG, Jesuit artists owe it to the Society, the Church and the Universe that their artistic creativity grows and flourishes.

See the centrespread (p. 15-18) to sample a few of what the Jesuit artists created on Mount Abu.

An artist often goes through an experience of creating or recreating himself in any form of artwork and thus in a small way participates in the creative role of the Creator and I have had often such experiences in my life. The power of such creative urge is such that an artist finds expression in any available medium at any given moment. A few years ago when I had such an urge I had none of the usual media of art available. All that I found was a used up soldering iron and a piece of rather thick plywood. I plugged the soldering iron and when it became burning hot I began tracing gently the figure I wanted to paint in black and white. After a day or two a picture emerged in black and brownish colour against the woody background. It was our Father of the Nation looking through a microscope. All those who saw it were highly appreciative of that piece of art and were astonished to know that it was made with a soldering iron rod. A few weeks later it was stolen by some one and I have no trace of it till today though I did enquired a lot about it. May be due to sadness of its lose I did not try any more to produce another piece using the same technique. And the new technique I evolved remained dormant in me till I got the chance of attending the second workshop of Jesuit Artists held in Mount Abu this year under the auspice of Gurjarvani, Ahmedabad.

During the ten-day workshop I decided to revive that technique once again and if possible to perfect it. I tried four pieces besides four other oil paints on canvas. There was notable progressive improvement in the use of the new technique in the subsequent pictures and all those who saw it appreciated it. At the time of documenting all the art works produced by all the Jesuits during the workshop there was the need for name the technique employed in each artwork. Till then I never thought of a name for my technique. I thought for few days and came out with a name - Scarbic-chand Technique".

Why such a name is a question every one will ask? The name Scabic-chand consists of three words or ideas. namely 'Scar", "Carbon' and "Chand'. Scar means "scarring the wood', "Carbic' means "carbon or charcoal' and Chand' comes from the expression in Hindi 'Chaar Chand legana " means among other things beatify four times. This Hindi expression means also increase or create the joy, brightness, grace, beauty, greatness of the occasion etc. four times. Hence the name "Scarbic-chand" means "create beauty in anything by scarring to carbon. The term 'Chand' also refers to the inventor's name 'Chandy' which of course is also a happy coincidence.

Some one may ask what triggered of this technique in my mind? During one my holidays when I was at home I had seen my brother using a soldering iron for the repair of radio, television etc. and leaving it on a piece of asbestos when he is not using it And I had noticed some kind of black and brownish patterns emerge on the grey surface of the asbestos by the repeated placing of hot soldering iron on the asbestos. At that it occurred to me that patterns of our choice can be created on a flat board of asbestos, plywood or any other wooden material by scaring them with a soldering iron. Probably I was reminded of those patterns at the time when I felt the strong urge for painting something and I saw only a soldering iron and a piece of plywood.

The technique is very simple at the same time a bit hard and risky. It is simple because compared to all other methods of art creation this requires only a soldering iron rod working on electricity and a wooden board like plywood or pressboard. If the board is thick and inflexible then there is no need for framing it like other artworks. A frame of any design can also be scarred on the four sides of the picture. It is risky in the sense one can get electrocuted or burned by chance. It is hard in the sense that once any mistake done it cannot be corrected. Therefore one has to be extremely careful not to make any mistake in the process of creating an art. Uneven speed in the movement of the soldering iron on the surface will result in over scarring which cannot be rectified. Similarly scarring will be proportionate to the pressure with which the soldering iron rod is applied to the board. Hence a steady hand evenly moving and applying the soldering iron at varying pressure to create variation in the intensity of scarring is required.

However this method has a number of advantages. It exhibits the beauty of black and white paintings. The only thing is in this method the picture is more of brownish black instead of black and wood colour instead of white. The scarring does not make any deep mark and hence the smoothness and evenness on the surface of the board is retained. Also the burning is done in such a way that no charcoal formation takes place. Hence the picture does not get pitted by the detachment of small carbon particles. Like the colour paintings the colour does not fade in this technique. The pictures can be staked one above the other without the danger of getting them stuck to each other as in the case of oil paintings. Since the boards are of uniform thickness without a separate projecting frame packing and transport becomes easy. They can be packed like cut pieces of Plywood and transported to any place. Any thing we do in black and white painting or in black and white photography can also be expressed in Scarbic-chand Technique.

Modification of the tip of the soldering iron to facilitate making of lines ranging from very thin to very broad, some devices for maintaining a proper angle of contact between the soldering iron and the board and for smooth and steady movements of the hand holding the soldering iron, bringing in variations in the design of the frame are some of the future course of experiments to improve the Scarbic-chand Technique.
Fr. K. T. Chandy, S.J.
Jesuit House, P.O. St. Xavier's College, Thumba, Trivandrum, 595 586