Axel Ewald - recent projects, discoveries & reflections

The Metamorphosis of the Plant

- Goethean Observation workshop at Oxford Brookes University

In the context of the studies of Social Sculpture which I am persueing at Oxford Brookes University I offered a one-day workshop in Goethean Observation of plant development. The workshop was attended by students of the Interdisciplinary MA studies of the School of Art and the Architecture Department. Its purpose was to deepen the experience of phenomenological observation practice and to study the plant organism as an example of a "whole". The process was divided into a number of steps:

blackboard drawing:
stages of the
observation process

First step: our individual starting point - clearing the mind

In the beginning of the workshop I quoted Goethe stating that in any study of the world of phenomena

"it all is about relationships. And the most important relationship is that between us and the object of our study."

Following this I asked participants to introduce a plant which they like to the group. Here is one example:

"  Bluebell: I remember the light blue carpet of bluebells that would appear every spring in the wood behind the house where I was born and spent my first 17 years. I love the way they look a bit like shepherd’s crooks, with the head of the bluebell facing down. I have a large watercolor of bluebells in my sitting room, painted by a friend who I have known many years."

This very first step of the observation process gave participants the chance to articulate their initial personal relationship to the plant world and opened up a rich tableau of different relationships - factual, emotional, biographical or philosophical.

Second step: first impression

In the next step each participant was given a "weed" - a small groundsel plant (Senecio vulgaris). I asked participants to encounter the plant with open senses and an open mind and to receive an overall impression by letting the plant 'impress' itself on them. After a few minutes of individual observation these first impressions were shared with the group.

detailed observation of groundsel

Third step: active noticing - describing the sense-perceptible facts

This involved a very detailed observation and description of the most minute details. I suggested to do this in a very disciplined fashion, each person describing one detail at a time, starting from the bottom (the roots) and the next person following with the description of the next detail in line.

This painstaking process was followed by practicing drawing the plant from memory. We can gain some important insights from this practice - first of all about ourselves. The drawings graphically reveal how much - or how little - we really have seen. But the drawings, although built up by adding details, give a picture of our initial grasp of the whole plant and its main characteristics.

memory drawing
of groundsel

drawing from memory

Fourth step: moving into time

While in the third step we looked at the plant as a finished spatial object, made up of countless details, he next step demanded a very different, more fluid and imaginative, mode of observation. To introduce this different way of looking I had set up an experiment which makes visible the patterns of water-movement . This simple but very striking experiment conveys an experience of how form comes about through movement. This can be seen as a metaphor for the fluid kind of thinking which is needed in the following step of observation where we attempt to 'see' the plant as an organism growing and developing in time.

Following this experience we returned to the groundsel plant and described features suggesting processes of change, like changes of color, angles, distances and the change of size and form of the leaves. I then introduced, as a short interlude, a kind of group 'game' where participants had to find the underlying order in a randomly dispersed group of photocopies of leaf shapes:

We then reflected on this process and the resulting sequence of forms, all of which had been taken from one plant (sow thistle, Sonchus). This brought about a lively exchange of observations, questions and insights concerning the various various transformative processes involved and the relationship between this and human development and biography.

From here we moved into a creative group practice, with the assignment of creating a form sequence in drawing. As they were evolving their form, by spreading layers of charcoal on paper, participants had to carefully watch each other's progress in order to create a consequential, coherent sequence.

Having experienced transformation in the leaf region of the plant, we proceeded further to examine the realm of the flower, seemingly so different a world from that of the green leaves. And yet, also here processes of form develoment can be discovered. Studying the organs of a rose flower, we discovered the transformative relationship between the normal, green rose leaf and the five sepals, which can puzzle the observer with their strange shapes. This also led us to 'see' the underlying geometrical pattern, the pentagram, which is a kind of 'motif' of the rose family. This also allowed us to come to an understanding of Goethe's idea of metamorphosis (form transformation) and his revolutionary insight, that all organs of the plant are a manifestation of the same underlying creative formative principle, 'the leaf'.

"From beginning to end, the plant is but leaf."

letting the flower speak

Fifth step: 'feeling' observation

In order to appreciate the really new, and utterly different dimension of the flower, we have to assume again a different mode of observation. I asked participants to chose a flower of their choice and to let it its form, color, smell and its spatial gesture 'speak' to them. This mode of looking requires from the observer to activate and observe their own 'feeling' response and utilize this as an organ of observation. I asked participants to imagine their flower as a person: how would this person look like, speak, move, behave? Participants then were asked to allow this 'personality'to articulate itself  in writing. This is one of the responses:

"My name is Sam – for Samuel or Samantha
I’m sunny and funny,
Energetic and vibrant,
Upright, firm and confident.
I have a sense of style and a sweet smell.
‘Look at me and smile!’ I say
While slightly ad hoc and disorganised, no perfectionist me.
I’m gentle and soft.
‘Live life to the full’ I say.
And I do."

Our last session of the day was concerned with following the plant's development further, continuing from the flower, its withering and seeming death, through the new growth taking place in fruit formation and the creation of seeds for the future. And again we had moments of insight into the working of the underlying archetype - the leaf and with this we concluded our journey through the plant world. 

The last step - 'becoming one with' and the experience of the whole in the part 

is a lofty goal for a one-day workshop and, to my experience, can only be attained by prolonged study and continued immersion into the object observed. It can come to the devoted Goethean practitioner as a moment of grace and profound insight. 

Finally, here are some of the feedback comments from participants:

"There were some striking moments of wonder for me during the day. I strongly remember the dynamic patterns in the ‘slow’ water, how they in a way correspond to the forces at work in plant growth (and even in society, on a particular level), and our introduction to the changing of shapes in leaves (whilst we tried to put the several stages in order). I got many new insights about plant development, of which the most striking was the idea of every element being a ‘leaf’."

"I felt moments of true insight. As if one gets to have a look behind the stages of the world, catching a glimpse of an organizing idea that even seems to reach beyond the plant kingdom."

"Inspiration for the future: I am keen to follow the seasonal progress of an apple tree, a copper beech and an oak in the garden where I live. I am also interested to see how Goethean Observation can be applied to groups of people (organisations)."

"I imagine a society in which this kind of reading the world, seeing these almost alchemist processes and building upon the gained insights when developing new creations, is central rather than a marginal phenomenon. It might still require a lot of transformative work, but how much more consciousness, wonder, and finally truth and resilience would that bring?"

"I really felt something shifting in me when I became aware of these processes and principles at work. It does something to you. Once experienced, you can’t really deny it. I have the feeling that this is something that stays within you, and if we can learn to bring such insights to life in our actions, that would be an incredibly wonderful thing. Thanks a lot!!"