Just completed an online class with filmmaker Ken Burns and it was as enlightening and provocative as one would expect from this hyper-articulate and thoughtful genius of storytelling.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s that rare individual who is persistent to a fault, leaving no stone unturned in his art, able to attend to details at the most intimate level and then, in a heartbeat, step all the way back from a project to objectively evaluate the big picture.<\/p>\n
Though Burns spends time discussing and illustrating some of his signature techniques, the real value of the class is in his refreshing take on balancing the inexorable tension between art and craft to achieve a synergy that\u2019s somehow greater than merely the sum of the components.<\/p>\n
Particularly noteworthy were his observations on how to strike that delicate balance:<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what art is\u2026 something else\u2026throw away your crutches, throw away the simple things, the obvious illustration and try to achieve something that\u2019s a \u2026little bit more difficult, and dissonant, and you might find new meaning in that.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019re corrigible to the end, then you have the opportunity for serendipity and surprise\u2026. that\u2019s what life is about.<\/em><\/p>\n He concludes with his motivation for pursuing the path he\u2019s chosen by quoting Transcendentalist author Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay, \u201cSelf Reliance\u201d:<\/p>\n I will do…whatever inly rejoices me…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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