Videos and Conversations

The Parallels between Art and Advertisting

Please note: during this talk, Mary discusses first, The Birth of Venus which was showing on the opening slide which is not in the recording but the slide changes to Primavera before she has finished! She does know her Birth of Venus from her Primavera…

Orlando Wood discusses some of the themes of his work with art historian, author and business creative Mary Attwood. They explore how an understanding of art – the “unique embodiment of human creative skill” can help us build greater meaning into our communication – and help us connect better with audiences for greater effectiveness.

Leonardo da Vinci and the Four Senses of Interpretation (Hermeneutic)

Mary Attwood discusses the four senses of interpretation with reference to Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks, the fourth part of the day conference, Beyond Flatland. Reductionism and literalism are often acknowledged as problems bequeathed to us by the 18th century Enlightenment. They foster tyrannical attitudes that disqualify ways of knowing widely enjoyed by our ancestors.

Mary Attwood talks to Orlando Wood on Advertising, the Brain Hemispheres and the Crisis in Creativity

Here Mary Attwood interviews Orlando Wood about his book, Lemon, and discuss the brain hemispheres, art, advertising, how we see and the crisis in creativity. 

Mary Attwood talks to The Focal Thought about The Sacrosanct Meaning of Art  

 

 

A discussion with my colleagues from The Centre for Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred where I talk about the window of Renaissance Art for a course we were running in 2020.

Drs Angela Voss, Geoffrey Cornelius, William Rowlandson and Louise Livingstone discuss their chosen areas also.

The School of Athens, Raphael

An embodiment of many principles embraced during the Renaissance, Raphael’s School of Athens shows the coming together of seeming opposites; of art and science, of beauty and geometry, of the concern for both earthly and heavenly matters, the embrace of assymetry with an overall sense of harmony and proportion, and the grounding for philsophical enquiry not as a thing, but as a mode of being in the world.

The World Is Speaking To Us – How Do We Reply?

A Four Week dialogue with Mary Attwood & Louise Livingstone

In Week Two of a four week dialogue, we discuss the theme of ‘Opening’. As life as we knew it changed completely during lockdown, it gave some the chance to see the world anew, to realise that there is a profound beauty in the world frequently missed by our noise and busy-ness. You can click on this link to see the whole series

An Angel Appears to Saint Joseph, 

Georges de la Tour 

How might we attend to works of art differently? In this excerpt from a longer description, we explore the visionary and dream state of Joseph; the painting’s exquisite rendering of the glow of candlelight; and the way in which images convey meaning difficult to express in words.

Venus and Mars, 

Botticelli

Paintings such as this were literally windows to other worlds. Placed in a room in a private patron’s house, friends and Humanists would gather for wisdom- enriched discussions and explore the power of myth and beauty to inform their actions and decisions in every day life.

Mona Lisa, Leonardo Da Vinci

Arguably the most famous painting in the world, Mona Lisa has been emblazoned on every commercial product you can think of. But have we become complacent in our looking? To the Renaissance eye, Mona Lisa was not viewed as a dead object among many in a vast museum, but as animate and alive….