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Mako and I reflect on the importance of community, how planting flowers is a courageous act of patronage, and what it means to create in perilous times.
Some books I would recommend as companions to this conversation are: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer Culture Care by Makoto Fujimura Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
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 I love postcards! Christmas cards with your family photos: yes, please! Exquisite photographs of buildings and wild animals: where is my copy? And the proverbial cherry: art postcards!!! Going thru a museum exhibit it is fun to pick which work of art you would want on a postcard and then to arrive in the gift shop and see that the merchandisers also thought it would make a great takeaway. Sometimes I send these postcards, frequently I put them on my fridge, and most likely they end up in a stack in a drawer that I periodically review as my own custom art history book. I saw Brittany V. Wilder post about potentially offering a postcard as part of her poem club and something clicked for me. I could offer a postcard! So may I present "Tangible Post" a postcard with a recent painting printed on the front and written reflection on the back. These are offering with the hope that I become part of your art history book. They will be offered as pre-sale so that the correct quantity can be produced. The pre-sale will be open until March 21th, with estimated shipping happening in April. Order yours here. Thank you for your continued interest in my work.
Standouts from my first fifty reads of the year.
Recently had the opportunity to reflect with Mako Fujimura on inadvertent contemporary liturgies and the importance of listening. What practices are you participating in? What practices are you constructing?
 As the year turned I decided to work away from others eyes for awhile. I began this On the Horizon series to reflect on where the ship of my life is heading, to find waymarkers outside of digital spaces. And as the fires continue to burn in the geo-region of my physical existence I see how this series is about the unknown and the new, nature and locale. Not sure what the future holds for my neighborhood or for these paintings, and I know that they are an honest expression of what is glimpsed On the Horizon.
Mako and I got to talk about what it is to live in a place changed by fire and how the artist navigates responsibility.
Author Mentioned: Jaques Maritain Places to donate: Mask Bloc LA (grassroots organization providing masks) Suay It Forward (dealing with the immense generosity of clothing donation and diverting it from landfills) Center for Cultural Innovation (providing grants for artists directly impacted by the fires) World Central Kitchen (feeding those displaced locally and globally) I live in a place changed by recent fires. The air quality experts say to be careful breathing the smoke and ash. Rain will make things a lot safer. Here are some of my prayers for rain. Will you pray with me for cleansing rain?
Places to donate: Mask Bloc LA (grassroots organization providing masks) Suay It Forward (dealing with the immense generosity of clothing donation and diverting it from landfills) Center for Cultural Innovation (providing grants for artists directly impacted by the fires) World Central Kitchen (feeding those displaced locally and globally)
Makoto Fujimura and I had this conversation a few days ago now and I am still reflecting on the epiphany I had while we were talking. The insight is this: Curiosity is the antidote to conscripted thought. This means that the mechanism of questioning enables boundary crossing construction, specifically as the cure for binary thought. For years I have been trying to figure out how humans mentally discover and overcome their blindspots. On a car the answer is clear: use the mirrors. With humans, we can use the mirrors of others reflections, but that doesn't always yield true coverage either, due to bias and similarity/group dynamic echo chambers. I have been reflecting on the importance of curiosity for awhile as evidenced by the reflection guide I put together in early 2023, (which you can access here). And yet I had never thought of it in this specific way before. Hooray for ever expanding paradigms! May the New Year be full of them! Books Mentioned in our conversation:
Makers by Nature by Bruce Herman The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer Art Is by Makoto Fujimura Donations to IAMCC assist directly with the administrative costs of running this generative nonprofit. If you are able please donate here: https://iamculturecare.com/donate  Recently two scholars wrote about my work for two different publications. Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt, who wrote the interpretative guide Redeeming Vision shared my work in Christianity Today. Dr. Maria Fee, who wrote the theological interpretation of hospitality and the work of Theaster Gates in Beauty is a Basic Service offered insights about my work for The Christian Century. Dr. Weichbrodt wrote about various offerings of mine in relation to the incarnation and the Annunciation Triptych of Robert Campin. Some moments that I love from the tryptic include the patrons attentively awaiting and observing the unfolding narrative, Joseph doing the patient repetitive work of an artisan, while the city continues on outside. Dr. Weichbrodt is like those depicted in that she considers the scope and specificity of what is presented, considering the context with a working knowledge of “Redeemed Vision” and presents plausible interpretations. i am so fortunate to have such a faithful viewer and translator of my offerings. Dr. Fee generously wrote about the “Prayer Book” series. She connected this offering to baptism and the push and pull of life and death. Dr. Fee’s interpretation plumbs the depths of this series and offers refreshment and renewal through her keen synthesis. As an artist herself, Fee inherently understanding the material possibilities and fallibilities. This means that she translates facets of the work that go unnoticed otherwise, perhaps even by the artist themselves. So thankful for the work of faithful observers.  |
