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Congratulations Dr. Fujimura! Mako received an honorary doctorate from my alma mater Gordon College. The importance of an artist being granted this kind of degree is cannot be overstated. Mako has guided the Christian cultural conversation about art for decades and this acknowledgment proclaims that to an even larger audience.
We talk about wonder and community, the interconnectedness of work and thought, and encourage others to make.
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 Passing thru the lobby, I turned left and gasped as my eyes landed on an unexpected friend. There before me was a comforting and confronting Richard Serra steel form, Band. This continuous bended metal rests gently in the space, forming arcs and encouraging meanders.
In this monthly conversation, Mako and I say things that you have likely heard us discuss before: artists as generous futurists, our ongoing studio work, and how things grow. Repetition of concepts allows for a different kind of conversation, it is the bolstering of ideas, the true formation of culture.
I read 100 books in the first quarter of 2025. These non-fiction books stand out, as idea-shaping and insightful reflections on how humans navigate all manner of experience. Benjamin offers the clearest framework for a future I want to be a part of, while Duke gives some insight into how people move forward with uncertainty. Mabute-Louie offers a case study in community development and Nezhukumatahil reflects on the tastes that shape experience. I highly recommend reading these together, as the antidote to current chaos, as guideposts to positive inclusive action, as a constructive foundation for communal advancement.
*I reviewed my first 50 reads here if you are interested in some other recommendations. 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  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) |
