Frank Chester is a master teacher, sculptor, and geometrician. In the year 2000 he developed an objective, lawful process using science and art wherein the invisible world could be made visible. The inspiration for this work came from his visit to Dornach, Switzerland, where he saw models of a series of seven-sided capitals in a building designed by Rudolf Steiner. As a result of this encounter, a seed was planted within him whereby he envisioned the possibility of constructing a seven-sided sculpture based on the geometry of these capitals.

Two years later he began his search for a three-dimensional, seven-sided sculpture. After much trial and error, failure after failure, and months and months of effort, he eventually discovered something, the likes of which this world has never seen before: a new geometric form with seven equal faces. In the history of mankind this geometry has never appeared on the earth before.

Even though Frank found a new geometric form, the significance of the form was unknown. (Rudolf Steiner said that “geometry was knowledge which man himself apparently produces, but its significance is completely independent of him.”) Since its discovery, Frank devoted himself to discovering the potential meanings of this form, and almost ten years of work have led him to see how it relates to the human heart, to the geometry of the Earth, to sacred architecture, and to inspiring others about the awe-inspiring connection between seemingly abstract geometries and the dynamism of life.

See also the “About” post for more information.

Share/Save

Frank Chester’s Michaelmas Talk given on September 29, 2011 at the Threefold Auditorium in Spring Valley, New York.  This lecture covers Frank’s insights, based on his research into the new geometry of the heart, into what it means to “defeat the dragon” in our own day and age.

Frank’s talk began the Threefold Educational Center’s 2011 Research Symposium “LIVING QUESTIONS: Exploring the Role of Individual and Community in Spiritual-Scientific Research”.  Information about this event and upcoming details (as they become available) can be found at http://www.Threefold.org/research.

Share/Save

The following is a special presentation by Frank Chester, Bringing Balance to the Heart with Lawful Thinking, that took place at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School on January 13th, 2012. In it he shows the principles behind the creation of a new Mystery Center for America, based on the geometry of the heart.
See more information about the event itself here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI1WE4NFc-s

Thank you to Robert (77GSlinger) for the video.

Frank was invited to come to Dornach, Switzerland to display his sculptural works, at a time that marked the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s architectural impulse.  The presentation took place in the building that forms the heart of anthroposophical studies in Europe, the Goetheanum.  Frank, deeply inspired by the architectural designs of the first and second Goetheanum buildings, created a model for a new building meant to support anthroposophical and related work outside of Europe.

Frank was inspired directly by both buildings, and has taken up the impulse to further the architectural reflection of the continued evolution of anthroposophy in his own design, which is a further metamorphosis of the designs and principles Steiner used in the first and second Goetheanums.  The design is centered around the unique geometry of the seven-sided form that he discovered.  This form, the chestahedron, derives its name from its connection to the heart: it is a proposed geometrical template for the form of the human heart.  The chestahedron therefore embodies the principles behind the development of the kind of heart-thinking that is so important for our time.  The building is meant to carry forward the necessary outer manifestation of the changing nature of anthroposophy itself, and would provide an appropriate space for lectures, workshops, mystery plays, musicals, eurythmy, visual arts, and meditation.  The space will support public outreach and provide a powerful physical representation of the life-giving nature of anthroposophical activities in the world.

The building incorporates a number of elements of note:

• As previously mentioned, the geometry of the structure is based on the form of the human heart (see elsewhere on this site for more details on this connection). Two cupolas meet in the main part of the building, in a way reminiscent of Steiner’s ground-breaking design for the first Goetheanum.  However, in this case the cupolas interpenetrate vertically and are suspended by the chestahedron above.  The upper cuploa is based on a geometry of the number 5, while the lower cupola is based on the number 7.  Together they meet in a plane that forms a perfect six-sided hexagon (see the last image in the gallery below for a drawing showing how 7 and 5 yield 6).

• While the main dome(s) are suspended from and sit inside the chestahedron, the chestahedron itself is embedded in its dual form, the decatria (dek-a-TRIA: a form with 13 faces).  The chestahedron and decatria together embody the principle of reversal, and the principle of levels of self-embeddedness and self-unfolding that are key recurring patterns in anthroposophical work. Half of the supporting wires from the decatria are structural, while the other half are made of a thick nylon that will allow the strings to literally be played as a musical instrument with an appropriate bow.  The building itself thus embodies a musical principle as a part of its very structure, and will “sing” its geometry gently with the blowing of the wind, which will make the strings resonate at their fundamental frequency.

• Unlike the capitals in the first Goetheanum, there are no capitals inside the building; the structure is not supported by columns from below, but is rather suspended from above, from the outside.  This allows for seven internal, non-weight-bearing columns which are capped by seven individually made bells.  The seven bells are based on the transformative sequence of Steiner’s seven planetary seals and the geometry of the chestahedron, and increase in size by a factor of 1/7th.  Where the capitals in the first Goetheanum formed a transformative sequence of sculptural form, the bells form a transformative sequence of audible tone.  The sequence of tones yields a transformation at a higher octave, and can fill the space in a way that can be shared directly and inwardly that is not possible with purely visual forms.

• Rather than force the skin of the building to hold only one color, it will instead be coated with a surface that will reflect the color projected onto it by a series of surrounding tourmaline-shaped panels of colored glass.  The color of the building will be organically formed out of the seasons and daily weather conditions, and reflects an integration of the natural and spiritual environments as they change throughout the year.

Download (SCMBBASANewsletterFeb2012.pdf, PDF, 239.6KB)

IMG 3265 IMG 3272 IMG 3289 IMG 3295 IMG 3384 IMG 3444 IMG 3464 IMG 3491 IMG 3504 IMG 3613 IMG 3624 IMG 3630 IMG 3667 IMG 3685 IMG 3735 IMG 3746 IMG 3794 IMG 3898 IMG 3936 IMG 3947 IMG 3985 IMG 4036 IMG 4048 IMG 5523

Share/Save

Download this PDF and print it out to make your own chestahedron!

Read more about the mathematics of the form.

Download (Chestahedron-Template.pdf, PDF, 1.68MB)

Share/Save

The following video and photos are of a special presentation by Frank Chester, Bringing Balance to the Heart with Lawful Thinking, and a workshop following, that took place at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School on January 13th and 14th, 2012. See more information about the event itself below the photos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI1WE4NFc-s

Thank you to Robert (77GSlinger) for the video.

IMG 0122 IMG 0137 IMG 0139 IMG 0168 IMG 0205 IMG 0227 IMG 0230 IMG 0280 IMG 0298 IMG 0337 IMG 0361 IMG 0376 IMG 0386 IMG 0401 IMG 0445 IMG 0495 IMG 0526 IMG 0546 IMG 0592 IMG 0623 IMG 0624 IMG 0750 IMG 0774 IMG 0780 IMG 1258 IMG 1262 IMG 1264 IMG 1343 IMG 1345 IMG 1369 IMG 1457

Bringing Balance to the Heart with Lawful Thinking

Recent Works by Frank Chester

What might the living forms inside us have to do with those forms
surrounding us and the thinking by which we are able to unite the two?
Join Frank Chester in an exploration of how we balance the heart
through lawful thinking. He will also present his most recent work,
including a new architectural model created in honor of the 100th
anniversary of the conception of the first Goetheanum.

Frank will be exhibiting his work and discoveries at the
Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland December 10th – 18th, 2011.
More information about this exhibition www.einszueins.goetheanum.org

Friday, January 13, 7pm, $12
Santa Cruz Waldorf School
2190 Empire Grade, Santa Cruz 95060 (831) 212-1947

Making a Chestahedron

Geometry of the Human Heart

Geometry with Matt Taylor & Eurythmy with Dean Pollard

The discovery of the seven sided Chestahedron has led to breakthrough findings of the true nature of the human heart.

In this half day workshop, participants will move forms in Eurythmy and make their own model of a Chestahedron to bring home.

Price: $20 for Saturday Workshop
$30 for both workshop and Friday evening lecture
Contact Daniel Bittleston for more information (831) 212-1947

Saturday, January 14, 9:30am – 12:30pm
Santa Cruz Waldorf School
2190 Empire Grade, Santa Cruz 95060 (831) 212-1947

Download (SantaCruzPresentation2011.pdf, PDF, 6.38MB)

Download the PDF flyer here.

Share/Save

The Decatria (dek-a-TRIA) is a form with thirteen faces discovered by Frank Chester.  Frank tells about the form below:

In 2007 I was told by a former mathematical section leader at the Goetheanum, George Glockler, that if the dual of the Chestahedron could be found, it would be the form that surrounds the heart at night during its rebuilding process for the next day. Esoterically the dual relationship between the two forms is also a day and night relationship, weaving from a day to a night and a night to a day.

What is a dual? A dual is a form that will fit inside or outside of each other. It is a reversal based on points to planes or planes to points. If you truncate a cube (cut off its corners), you will create an Octahedron and if you truncate an Octahedron, it will produce a Cube. The Cube corners will touch the inside faces of the Octahedron or the Octahedron corners will touch the inside faces of the Cube. The rule is to cut each corner at 90 degree to the form’s center and stop cutting one half the distance from the corner to the center.

Following this dual procedure, the Chestahedron resulted in having to cut off three edges instead of three corners. The reason for this was that both the edges and the corners were at 90 degrees to the axis. This is the first lawfully objective use of the traditional form of transformation using both corners and edge truncations at the same time.  The resulting form has three edges and four corners, resulting in a 13-sided polyhedron, the Decatria. Each form fits perfectly inside the other; they form a dual pair.

The Decatria is to being studied in New York for a possible use as a new beehive design because of its unique shape.  Inside the Decatria, formed out of a cross-section, is a perfect hexagon, which is the natural organizing shape for honeycomb construction.

This sculpture (solid, gold-colored in the pictures below) is for sale. If you are interested in purchasing one of Frank’s unique sculptures, please fill out this contact form.

Decatria-hexagon IMG 1452 IMG 1457 IMG 1470 IMG 1478

Share/Save

The following images are from The Heart’s Art conference, with keynote speaker Frank Chester.  The conference took place at the San Francisco Waldorf High School on July 8-10, 2011, and was a great success.  See more information about the conference itself below the photos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zrsKDAL-ns

Hearts1 Hearts2 Hearts3 Hearts4 IMG 0156 IMG 0196 IMG 0228 IMG 0258 IMG 0260 IMG 0289 IMG 0378 IMG 0421 IMG 0445 IMG 0501 IMG 0568 IMG 0572 IMG 0583 IMG 0607 IMG 0616 IMG 0620 IMG 0653 IMG 0658 IMG 0795 IMG 0816 IMG 0845 IMG 0851 IMG 0876 IMG 0899 IMG 0925 IMG 0951 IMG 1181 IMG 1213 IMG 1295 IMG 1327 IMG 1368 IMG 1434 IMG 1452 IMG 1457 IMG 1459 IMG 1470 IMG 1478 IMG 1482

Weekend Conference!
July 8, 9 & 10, 2011

All are welcome to a weekend conference on ways of looking at and being inspired by the human heart from the treasures of Anthroposophic Art and Science.

Keynote speaker Frank Chester will present his remarkable and original research on vortical flow, Platonic solids & heart geometry, and sessions will be led by David Gershan, MD, Rosemary Rau-Levine, MD, Dale Robinson, Kelly Sutton, MD, and Matthew Taylor.

Reading Suggestions: The Dynamic Heart and Circulation by Craig Holdrege (AWSNA Publications) and perusal of content on this website.

Sponsored by The San Francisco Bay Area Physician’s Study Group

WHEN:

Friday Evening July 8 at 7pm
Saturday July 9 at 9am
Sunday July 10 at 9am, ending at Noon

WHERE:

San Francisco Waldorf High School
470 West Portal Avenue
San Francisco, CA

FEES:

$50-100, according to financial ability
Breakfast provided Saturday and Sunday Mornings, Lunch provided Saturday
Lacto-Vegetarian Food, Snacks and Fruit
Dinner is on your own Saturday

PRESENTERS:

Keynote speaker: Frank Chester: vortical flow, Platonic solids, and heart geometry (See lecture outline and PDF below.)

David Gershan, MD: discussions on the Etheric Heart
Rosemary Rau-Levine, MD: art therapy exercises
Dale Robinson: Eurythmy
Kelly Sutton, MD: discussions on heart physiology and physics
Matthew Taylor: Sacred Geometry exercises

MUSIC!! Performance Saturday Evening

Payment:

Checks may be made payable to:
David Gershan
Send to: 534 Baker St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Questions on the conference: Kelly Sutton
916-671-1780 or David Gershan 415-775-3994
Questions on housing: Patricia Reber-Weltz
650-559-8500

HEART’S ART FLYER – PDF

Download (HEARTS-ART-FLYER.pdf, PDF, 1.78MB)

Keynote speaker: Frank Chester

Lecture Itinerary Flyer – PDF

Lecture I: Geometry of Chestahedron

1. This lecture will show how Platonic forms are founded upon contraction and gravity, on the other hand the Chestahedron created anew path toward a geometry based upon expansion and levity.
2. Comparison of Centric and Peripheral forms
3. The first 13-faced form will be presented

Lecture II: The Human Heart

The lecture presentation goal is in cooperation with rather than in competition with current myocardial research. The form of the Chestahedron provides an additional view and means of studying the heart from a geometric3D model of morphology in addition to MRI, ECG, WAVEWIRE/FLOWWIRE, CSPAMM, and COLOR DOPPLER ULTRASOUND. This newly discovered form can now be used to help explain and understand the following:

1. Torsion reversal mechanism involvement with rapid filling and ejection from LV (left ventricle)
2. Myocardial Ventricular Band (apical loop development)
3. Diastolic heart failure architecture.
4. Nature of untwisting and filling dissociation in time.
5. Ventricular architecture and myofiber orientation.
6. Chiral asymmetry.
7. Systolic downward displacement of the base of the ventricles towards a motionless apex.
8. Initial systolic clockwise motion of the base and apex, and a change to an anti-clockwise motion of the base while the apex continues to move clockwise.
9. Results found for upwards motion of the ventricle base and an elongation of the ventricular chamber with both mitral and aortic valves closed.
10. Reduction of LV wall thickness towardsthe apex.

Frank will refer to 47 published research papers from CIRCULATION RESEARCH, Cardiovascular Research, JACC, Eur J Cardiothoracic Surgery, and NATURE MAGAZINES LTD. All papers and references will be available at the lecture.

Vortex Generator Demonstration

Through water experiments using a vortex generator, Frank will demonstrate:

1. LV and RV (right ventricle) design and function.
2. LV indentation vortex.
3. 36 degree angle space orientation of the heart.
4. RV transient recirculation.5) RV and LV vortex

A working model of an implosion mixer designed after the human heart will be on display.

Workshop

In the geometry workshop, you will make and take home the Chestahedron.

Download (HEARTS-ART-FLYER-Frank.pdf, PDF, 83.38KB)

Share/Save

The following video, broken into four parts and taken with the support of The NetworkM, provide a summary Frank’s geometrical work and the alchemical process by which he develops the forms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ujfk4fhYi4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ujfk4fhYi4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CPAVD7bfWs&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CPAVD7bfWs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmcXKtPxR9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmcXKtPxR9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5b_1BQzKTI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5b_1BQzKTI

Share/Save

Dornach, Switzerland.  A light cube becomes a receptacle for new geometry, a storage closet becomes an artist’s studio.  The work of Frank Chester is all about transformation.

From one perspective, the Goetheanum’s Einszueins exhibit brings Frank’s art, created in San Francisco, California where he lives and works, home.   It was at the Goetheanum in 1997 that Frank was first inspired to begin his line of inquiry into Seven.  It was the carved Saturn capital on a model of the first Goetheanum that first captured his imagination.  What would a seven sided form look like in three dimensions?  Frank’s sculpture in the exhibition’s “kubus”, displayed in the Goetheanum’s Schreinerei from December 9 – 18, makes visible the answer.

Confronting the presence of the mirror-polished seven sided “Chestahedron”, alone on a single white pedestal inside an all white, glowing, eight by eight foot cube is quite a powerful meeting.  It seems to take the full weight of cast bronze to arrest the metamorphosis put into motion by Frank’s exuberant enthusiasm and finely honed will.   Entering into the almost clinical space, one feels as though coming upon an extraordinarily beautiful stranger aboard a space station.  The world outside falls away and one can imagine a hidden world of geometric realities spinning by and around outside.  A scene as of the future as any science fiction film yet created.

A humble storage closet across the hall, normally reserved for ladders and staging, stands as Frank’s temporary workshop.  It is bursting with artifacts from the discovery process and glimpses of some of the dozens of practical applications that have resulted from putting the seven sided form through the alchemical process of the four elements.

The points and straight edges of the Chestahedron begins to curve as the fixed form is spun.  Through the fluid motion of the element Water, Frank discovered the archetypal geometry of the bell.  Cast just prior to the show and on display for the first time, two bells in bronze illuminate what Rudolf Steiner’s Saturn and Venus seals, until now depicted only in two dimensional drawings or sculpted relief, sounds like in three dimensions.  Everyone has a hard time believing they are made from the same material as their tones differ so greatly.  And it takes explanation for the realization to slowly dawn that these are not the subjective work of a sculptor who fashioned the bells in the seals likeness.  These bells have arisen, unsought, from the geometry of that first seven sided crystalline form.  This is the surprise that awaits each exhibition attendee who spends time with Frank in his temporary studio.  Frank wasn’t seeking illuminations on the way the human heart functions.  He wasn’t looking to present a model for a third, as yet unbuilt, Goetheanum.  These discoveries come to him, as objective phenomenon, as he makes his way through deliberate, disciplined geometric work.

“Why did you choose you to place this here?” The curious want to know.  “You could make this part wider here” offers another looking to be helpful.  It’s a slow realization from multiple examples that Frank reveals with a long-time teacher’s patience, that Frank didn’t choose to put the platform there.  He certainly chooses which elements to include in a model, or which to highlight with a darkened line or a colored face, but the geometry leads and Frank trustingly follows.  He asks the questions, but it is the objective laws of a geometric world, suspended between archetypal ideas and manifest realities, which answers.

The element of Fire, represented by the tetrahedron in the sequence of Platonic solids, fuels all of Frank’s ongoing work — the transformation of geometric form to practical application gives indications toward a new earth.  From his medical lectures resulting from the forms relation to the human heart, to the engineering potential of what Frank has dubbed a “Vortex Organizer,” to the architectural possibilities glimpsed in a model of a third Goetheanum building that Frank has designed for America, the implications of this first work seems to be limited only by one’s imagination and ability to carry out the transformations necessary.

Perhaps the greatest impression one takes away from an interaction with this geometrician and master craftsman is that pursuing our inspired questions can be enormously joy filled and offer previously unimagined gifts to the world.  Frank Chester’s artwork offers a glimpse of contemporary alchemical research – spirit made visible, art and science reconciled. 

A new trust is forming!  Seven Circle Trust is committed to building a vessel for the continued research of Frank’s lawful discoveries, and to advance cultural applications of the art and geometry developed by Frank Chester for the benefit of All.  Please visit sevencircletrust.org for more information and how you can help.

Frank’s work was on display from December 9th to December 19th, 2011.

 View the website for the event (in German) here:
http://www.einszueins.goetheanum.org/

01-Frank profile 02-Frank standing with hand close 03-Frank walking Goetheanum 04-Cube1 loaded onto Truck at Goetheanum2 05-Johannes on Truck3 06-Cube2 Unloading Truck4 07-Johnannes on Truck3 08-Johnannes Placing cube Location 09-Bringing Cube in Schreinerei5 09-Tight Corner 10-hands on cube3 11-hands on cube5 12-Johnannes at Entrance to Kubus 13-Ulrike at Entrance to Kubus 14-Philipp Entering kubus2 15-Group at Chestahedron2 15.1-Frank with Goetheanum Doors 16-Frank in Wooden Chair 2 17-Franks hands at work7 18-Frank making display frame close 19-Franks hands at work3 20-Franks hands at work6 21-Frank demonstrating to group 22-Frank Explaining in workshop 23-Franks Demonstration in Studio3 24-Franks Temporary Studio 25-Franks Temporary Studio3 26-Through crack into studio 28-Venus Bell 29-Venus Bell with Seal

Share/Save

A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me — a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day’s blow
rang out, metallic — or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

~ Denise Levertov ~

Download (New-View-Winter-The-Heart-Bell.pdf, PDF, 3.49MB)

Share/Save