On the centennial of the birth of Andrew Wyeth, a fellow artist and lifelong friend offers this one-of-a-kind remembrance. Here is a brief excerpt from an excellent article by Peter Ralston that was featured in Yankee Magazine. When I enrolled in graduate school in New Haven, I treated myself to a subscription to this unique publication and have retained my subscription ever since. To read the complete article, check out others, and obtain subscription information, please click here.

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In 1957 my parents bought a house in then-unfashionable Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Andrew and Betsy Wyeth bought the rest of that old Quaker mill property the next year. As a little boy I had free run of their place and the islands they owned in the Brandywine River, but it was the slow accretion of the many, many lessons and kindnesses they bestowed upon me over the years that shaped my life’s trajectory. Even when I was a child, they exposed me to the creative life in a way that was to fully inform my own.

I recall the day my education began. I was 11, and Andy and Betsy were in their great room. Andy told me to “have a good look” at the paintings hung there. Then he sprang The Game on me for the first time.

“Peter, the house is on fire … you can only save one painting on the way out. Which one?”

I was surprised, but thought it fun and quickly pointed to a work titled Young Bull.

“Good,” said Andy. “Now tell me why you chose that one.”

God knows exactly what I said, probably something vague about liking it the most of all the paintings in the room.

“OK,” said Andy, “but tell me why you like it.”

I ventured something to the effect of liking how the young bull’s coat and the wall and the hill beyond all seemed kind of the same.

Andy’s eyes narrowed until he was squinting, almost glaring, at me. He was standing close to me and he suddenly looked very fierce.

“Peter,” he said, “that’s good, but I mean I want you to really tell me WHY you like this one.” There were only three of us in the room plus their dog, Rattler. The fire in the hearth was lit, but I flushed from something besides the heat.

He pressed for “deeper”—and I cannot at all remember what else I had to say. This went on for what in my recollection seems an eternity, although I’m sure that it could not have lasted more than a minute or two, if that.

Andy was pushing me hard and he wouldn’t let up. I had no clue what was really going on, yet I felt dizzy and excited all at the same time. Then, it was over, and I recollect nothing else from the day. That was when I first had my awareness deliberately challenged to go beneath the obvious surface.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

Much in demand as a teacher of consciousness workshops since 1979, Peter Ralston has done over forty years of intense contemplation and personal experiential investigation into the nature of self and reality. Ralston’s consciousness work is acclaimed by people from a diverse range of disciplines, from spiritual teachers and psychiatrists to cognitive scientists, physicists, and artists. He is the founder of Empowerment, as well as the founder of Cheng Hsin, his school of internal arts and ontological research. Ralston trained with Stewart Emery and Actualizations, and has served as facilitator for other personal growth organizations such as: Lifesprings, Tony Robbins, Institute for Self Actualizations, Esalen, and others.

Here’s a link to the magnificent Ralston Gallery in Rockport, Maine.