Author Spotlight
Peter Clothier is a long time observer of the contemporary art world, and a widely published writer. His publications include fiction, poetry, and a memoir, as well as David Hockney (a monograph), and a collection of political essays, The Bush Diaries. His books include Persist: In Praise of the Creative Spirit in a World Gone Mad with Commerce, Mind Work: Shedding Delusions on the Path to the Creative Core, and Slow Looking: The Art of Looking at Art.
A graduate of Cambridge University, Clothier came to the U.S. in 1964 for the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa. Graduating with a PH.D. in Comparative Literature, he came to L.A. in 1968 to teach at USC. He became Dean and Director of Otis Art Institute, and was Dean of Fine and Communication Arts at Loyola-Marymount University before leaving academia in 1986 to devote full time to writing. He has been happily unemployed since then and describes himself as a recovering academic.
He received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities and was honored for his contribution to the arts at the L.A. Artcore 17th Annual Awards. He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows, and has served in a leadership capacity in The ManKind Project. Visit PeterClothier.com for more information.
Peter Clothier's Slow Looking: The Art of Looking At Art (Toad Rampant Books, 2012) is based on the “One Hour/One Painting” sessions he began offering a number of years ago to practice a more profound and rewarding way of looking at art. Combining the skills of meditation and contemplation, it invites participants to sit with a single work of art for a full hour; and by extension it models the way in which the mind benefits from the simple practice of paying close attention — whether in art or, more broadly, in life itself. Learn more and enjoy sample audio and video demonstrations on the process at PeterClothier.com.
This book has its origins in my "One Hour/One Painting" sessions, a different and more rewarding ay of looking at art. Excerpted from chapter 1 of Slow Looking: The Art of Looking at Art.
The simple experience of opening the eyes can be, well... eye-opening. Excerpted from chapter 9 of Slow Looking: The Art of Looking at Art.
Silence is the aural complement to space: once you find it, it is limitless, it reaches everywhere. Excerpted from chapter 4 of Slow Looking: The Art of Looking at Art.
Peter's creativity-inspiring responses to questions about his writing process, inspiration, and persisting in the creative life.
The writer stands to benefit as much as the artist or the musician from the empty mind.
Each of us, I firmly believe, has that mission, that sense of purpose.
From lecture for a group of art teachers engaged in a summer workshop at Texas Christian University.
Written after "Write For Your Life," a workshop at the Holiday Inn in Hollywood, California, in 1986.
A discussion on Intimate Portraits, Authenticity, and Shedding Delusions on the Path to the Creative Core.
Coming back home to the reality of the present moment.
Stripping down to essentials to attain greater clarity.
Peter Clothier writes chiefly about art and artists in Southern California. He has published widely in national magazines, and is the author of David Hockney in the Abbeville Modern Masters series. ...
The Big Lie: The Root of Self-Sabotage
Peter Clothier 'Mind Work' Interview