Wizard Academy

discovering the science behind every artArt is the language of relevance. Science is the language of credibility.Art is interpreted by feelings. Science is what’s left when feelings are gone.Art is the language of the brain’s right hemisphere; science is the language of the left. And the tug-of-war between the two gives us a funny, dual consciousness; the heart whispers one thing while the mind declares another. This is why the hardest choices in life are the choices between two good things: mercy and justice, loyalty and honesty, the impulse of play and the discipline of restraint: right brain and left.Good things often come into conflict, do they not? Liberal and conservative. Art and science. Faith and fact. When faced with a duality, do you choose one side and disparage the other or do you hold tightly onto both and become electric?Advertising is an art and a science.Public speaking is an art and a science.Music is an art and a science.Business is an art and a science.Hollister and Gideon’s other grandfather, Carl Morris, said, “Every science begins as an art. We come upon it intuitively, study it to find the recurrent patterns, then create charts and systems to give us control over it.” Carl has never attended Wizard Academy but he’s already figured out what we do here: we discover the science behind every art.We investigate the languages of shape, color, symbol (metaphor,) music, proximity, radiance and phonemes. And then we teach our students how to leverage these tools to move hearts and minds.We’re rather a dangerous bunch.Advertising and politics, fiction and poetry, painting and photography, food and music, each of these is merely a conduit in which flows a conflicted duality: ones and zeros, pointed and soft, bitter and sweet.Tower construction has been halted.The good news is that we’re about 90 percent complete and the $93,000 elevator is mostly bought, but the kitchen, bathrooms and small offices above those bathrooms have not yet been completed. Strangely, we were at about this same stage of construction – 90 percent – when the Engelbrecht House project came grinding to a halt.Things were going along fine on the tower until we had to plunk down $78,000 all at once for the elevator. This leaves us teetering on the financial edge because we’re committed to not having a mortgage. Please don’t suggest that we borrow the money.Here’s my solution: The workmen are going to stack those huge blocks of limestone we cut from the plateau to build some beautiful retaining walls and terraced gardens. We already own the equipment and the blocks so all we’ll have to fund is the labor, the diesel fuel, the plants and the topsoil in which to plant them. A good project for spring and early summer, don’t you think? My hope is that the money to finish the tower will appear during the few weeks that we’re working on the landscape. I feel good about it.The bad news is that this pushes the Tower Grand Opening Gala to late summer or early autumn.This would be a really great time for you to sign up for a class or special event, don’t you think? Aside from what we’ll spend to feed you while you’re here, 100 percent of your tuition will go toward finishing the tower.Six Years of nonstop fundraising and construction has been wearisome. I think that when you and I finally finish this tower we should shift our focus to building the alumni. You agree? Good. It’s unanimous. Tomorrow will be a brand new day.Come, we’ll watch the sun rise together.Roy H. Williams