So sorry for the loss you are going through. I love the idea of the sharing art as balm. Excited for this movie… It looks to be right up my alley. I have to find the piece I want to share... I’ll be back!
Belinda, when I looked at this image I let out an audible gasp to an empty room. It feels, simultaneously, like the pain of isolation/grief and the warm light of protection/safe harbor. Thank you so much for sharing this work!
My heart goes out to you. I hope this song paints a veil of beauty and compassion during your hard hours. "Blue Heron" –– Sarah Jarosz w/Jefferson Hamer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7pwx7fj3gg
Thank you so much for turning me on to Sarah Jarosz. I remember when you sent me her cover of Kathy's Song (the greatest love song of all time, I will die on this hill). This is so beautiful and is balm to my aching heart.
I just finished listening to Marie Howe on On Being, and it was such a wonderful episode, just exactly what my heart needed. I loved hearing her talk about the difficulty we all have seeing things just as they are and how hard it is to resist metaphor. I've never heard anyone put it into words like that. (Leave it to a poet to speak the ineffable.) Thank you so much for the recommendation.
Have you read his Six Drawing Lessons? It's a book created from a series of lectures, and it's one of the more beautiful meditations on making and being I've read. It was lent to me, so I don't have a copy to share, but I highly recommend it. Or, if so inclined, there are recordings of the lectures available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtxVM47qfVNCiZGjrzGk68GpwXVCtUVHo
Holy crap, this is just from the introduction, "And the location of this passionate recreation is easy to miss because it is the studio...Right through these lectures, the studio will be the leitmotif and the shaping spirit of the process of making excess. "I am only an artist. My job is to make art, not sense," as Kentridge once put it. The studio, as featured in this talk, has its own agency. It belongs as much to the realm of medium and material as do charcoal, pencil, film, music, or the camera. The studio provides a temporality, a time for a space of uncertainty from which the artist begins. And like the linear narrative of the genre of the lecture, the studio allows for a way of looking that is a frontal assault of all the images together, seen together at one glance, seen alongside each other. The studio is both event and epistemology. "
There there there There There there there there there there there there there There there t h e r e t h e r e t h e r e there there there t h e r e there THERE THERE THERE t h e re….
Jim, I just finished watching this perfect little gem of a movie at your recommendation. It was everything you said it would be. I never ever would've found it on my own, so thank you so much for bringing it into my life. It's so a lovely companion to Language Lessons in that it offers hope in unlikely connections. I have watched LL about 10 times already and I have no doubt that I will add TBF to my short list of films to watch when my heart needs a lift. Thank you.
Oh Jennifer, my heart goes out to you. I've loved and lost and loved and lost and loved again. It's so difficult and yet so worth it. I think Mary Oliver understands dog like no other. Here she reads from her book "Dog Songs" https://soundcloud.com/onbeing/the-first-time-percy-came-back
YES! Thank you so much for sharing these works, which I'd not previously seen. The wheat field brought me to tears. Full-on weeping. I'm often captivated and swept up by the simplest works that express something so essential to our experience on earth. Thank you, thank you.
Jennifer, My your pup's memory be a blessing to you forever. Having a pet is one of the best ways that we learn forgiveness. For every shoe chewed, every accident in the house, every time she/he woke you up in the middle of the night . . . she/he was doing you a life favor: showing you the power of love to forgive. And reminding us to forgive ourselves and to move forward with life. When I need to remind myself of that I often turn to Bach's Cello Suites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poCw2CCrfzA. Shana Tova.
David, your words ring so true for me. Mavis was a deaf, blind, abused rescue who required so much gentleness. She made me better and more patient.
I am so grateful to you for sharing this Cello Suite by Ophélie Gaillard who was previously unknown to me. Every year on my birthday, I listen to the Cello Suites played by Yo-Yo Ma, but it hadn't occurred to me to listen to them in moments like this one. I have been listening to them all week, thanks to you. And I am now a huge fan of Gaillard. Thank you!
Jennifer, I usually listen on LP (old fashioned old guy). I have several versions, but I usually turn to the Starker recording. I assume it is on-line somewhere. It always takes me to a calm place. Wishing you peace. David
She is an amazing artist and human. She fiercely loves folks who could be considered the underdog at times including artists, deaf dogs and such. She has an exquisite eye that somehow zogs the soul of what she is observing... and then can speak it back in exquisite words so that others can understand. She is a brilliant writer.
Beyond all of that, she is also her self a bad ass artist. Sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes gorgeously raw, etc. Again those observation skills being used with clarity and depth.
https://www.illustratedgallery.com/artwork/original/3189/by-maxfield-parrish/
💕
Nobody does evening light like Maxfield Parrish! Thank you for a reason to look again.
The light feeds my soul.
Oh, the light!
So sorry for the loss you are going through. I love the idea of the sharing art as balm. Excited for this movie… It looks to be right up my alley. I have to find the piece I want to share... I’ll be back!
Thank you so much for the condolences. I can't wait to hear what you think about the movie.
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/152437/fisherman-s-cottage
Belinda, when I looked at this image I let out an audible gasp to an empty room. It feels, simultaneously, like the pain of isolation/grief and the warm light of protection/safe harbor. Thank you so much for sharing this work!
My heart goes out to you. I hope this song paints a veil of beauty and compassion during your hard hours. "Blue Heron" –– Sarah Jarosz w/Jefferson Hamer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7pwx7fj3gg
Thank you so much for turning me on to Sarah Jarosz. I remember when you sent me her cover of Kathy's Song (the greatest love song of all time, I will die on this hill). This is so beautiful and is balm to my aching heart.
I’m sorry for the loss of your furry companion, Jennifer. 😔 It will never seem like enough time with them.
Poet Marie Howe touches on grief in the most precious way. I return again and again to this interview with Krista Tippet when I am feeling the welling up, the need for a grief spill, or simply the reminder that being a human gets hard sometimes and that I am not alone. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-being-with-krista-tippett/id150892556?i=1000385085815
Thank you so much for the condolences, Erinn.
I just finished listening to Marie Howe on On Being, and it was such a wonderful episode, just exactly what my heart needed. I loved hearing her talk about the difficulty we all have seeing things just as they are and how hard it is to resist metaphor. I've never heard anyone put it into words like that. (Leave it to a poet to speak the ineffable.) Thank you so much for the recommendation.
https://postcardsfromsanantonio.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/absense.gif?w=621&zoom=2 from this series https://www.kentridge.studio/projects/drawings-for-projection/
I saw this body of work in person (alone) at SFMOMA years ago and I think about that experience often. Sending you so much love.
Have you read his Six Drawing Lessons? It's a book created from a series of lectures, and it's one of the more beautiful meditations on making and being I've read. It was lent to me, so I don't have a copy to share, but I highly recommend it. Or, if so inclined, there are recordings of the lectures available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtxVM47qfVNCiZGjrzGk68GpwXVCtUVHo
Oooh, thank you so much for this recommendation! I just starting listening to the recordings, but I will try to get my hands on the book.
Holy crap, this is just from the introduction, "And the location of this passionate recreation is easy to miss because it is the studio...Right through these lectures, the studio will be the leitmotif and the shaping spirit of the process of making excess. "I am only an artist. My job is to make art, not sense," as Kentridge once put it. The studio, as featured in this talk, has its own agency. It belongs as much to the realm of medium and material as do charcoal, pencil, film, music, or the camera. The studio provides a temporality, a time for a space of uncertainty from which the artist begins. And like the linear narrative of the genre of the lecture, the studio allows for a way of looking that is a frontal assault of all the images together, seen together at one glance, seen alongside each other. The studio is both event and epistemology. "
Wow! I have not and I'm so excited to listen to the lectures.
I literally let out an audible gasp to an empty room when I saw this. Straight to the heart. Yes. Thank you for sharing this image.
There there there There There there there there there there there there there There there t h e r e t h e r e t h e r e there there there t h e r e there THERE THERE THERE t h e re….
I'm so sorry, Jennifer. The loss of a companion is profound.
I saw this particular Adrian Arleo piece in person in 2016 and have loved it since.
https://www.adrianarleo.com/2015-2019#/heard-i/
(trigger warning if you are unfamiliar with her work and poke around on her site, she uses canine imagery a lot)
Thank you so much for turning me on to Arleo's work (and for the very thoughtful warning). The piece you linked to rings in my heart right now.
I also discovered a few pieces in her 2003-2009, Montana series that really speak to me. This piece in particular: https://www.adrianarleo.com/200309-montana#/wasp/
(Warning: if you have trypophobia DO NOT click on the link.)
DOGS and CATS: They simply don't live long enough. It is one of our existence's cruelest lessons. My heart breaks for you.
It’s so so true. Thank you. 🧡🧡🧡
So sorry for your loss Jenifer.
I really love "Language Lesson" for so many reasons.
For a charming escapist fairytail-like hour and a half…and a bit predictable and corny....“This Beautiful Fantastic” is a good balm.
https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Fantastic-Jessica-Brown-Findlay/dp/B06WVW16WY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=10FX0EB3GAM4B&keywords=This+Beautiful+Fantastic&qid=1664901966&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjQyIiwicXNhIjoiMS40NyIsInFzcCI6IjAuOTgifQ%3D%3D&s=instant-video&sprefix=this+beautiful+fantastic%2Cinstant-video%2C644&sr=1-1
Jim, I just finished watching this perfect little gem of a movie at your recommendation. It was everything you said it would be. I never ever would've found it on my own, so thank you so much for bringing it into my life. It's so a lovely companion to Language Lessons in that it offers hope in unlikely connections. I have watched LL about 10 times already and I have no doubt that I will add TBF to my short list of films to watch when my heart needs a lift. Thank you.
Oh Jennifer, my heart goes out to you. I've loved and lost and loved and lost and loved again. It's so difficult and yet so worth it. I think Mary Oliver understands dog like no other. Here she reads from her book "Dog Songs" https://soundcloud.com/onbeing/the-first-time-percy-came-back
Joyce, Mary Oliver understands so many things that we have yet to learn. Thank you so much for this.
Pets are the goddamn best.
I always loved the New York Earth Room https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-our-locations-sites/walter-de-maria-the-new-york-earth-room-new-york-united-states
and Agnes Denes's Wheat Field https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/agnes-denes-prophetic-wheatfield-remains-as-relevant-as-ever
Use that expensive NY real estate for dirt and grain. Yes.
YES! Thank you so much for sharing these works, which I'd not previously seen. The wheat field brought me to tears. Full-on weeping. I'm often captivated and swept up by the simplest works that express something so essential to our experience on earth. Thank you, thank you.
Jennifer, My your pup's memory be a blessing to you forever. Having a pet is one of the best ways that we learn forgiveness. For every shoe chewed, every accident in the house, every time she/he woke you up in the middle of the night . . . she/he was doing you a life favor: showing you the power of love to forgive. And reminding us to forgive ourselves and to move forward with life. When I need to remind myself of that I often turn to Bach's Cello Suites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poCw2CCrfzA. Shana Tova.
David, your words ring so true for me. Mavis was a deaf, blind, abused rescue who required so much gentleness. She made me better and more patient.
I am so grateful to you for sharing this Cello Suite by Ophélie Gaillard who was previously unknown to me. Every year on my birthday, I listen to the Cello Suites played by Yo-Yo Ma, but it hadn't occurred to me to listen to them in moments like this one. I have been listening to them all week, thanks to you. And I am now a huge fan of Gaillard. Thank you!
Jennifer, I usually listen on LP (old fashioned old guy). I have several versions, but I usually turn to the Starker recording. I assume it is on-line somewhere. It always takes me to a calm place. Wishing you peace. David
Thanks for the recommendatiion! (And: vinyl is THE BEST.)
I am so incredibly sorry to hear about Mavis. If I come up with suggestions to soothe your broken heart I will be sure to share. 💔
Thank you, Holly. I know it's been a difficult year for you, too. I'm sending love from my heart to yours.
Dear friend, I'm going to give a shout out to this amazing artist/human:
https://jenniferrabin.com/
She is an amazing artist and human. She fiercely loves folks who could be considered the underdog at times including artists, deaf dogs and such. She has an exquisite eye that somehow zogs the soul of what she is observing... and then can speak it back in exquisite words so that others can understand. She is a brilliant writer.
Beyond all of that, she is also her self a bad ass artist. Sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes gorgeously raw, etc. Again those observation skills being used with clarity and depth.
The world is lucky to have her.
I don't even know what to say. So I will simply say: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Sending you so much love and so many blessings. A poem for you:
A Meal of Fresh Octopus
by Ikkyu
Lots of arms, just like Kannon the Goddess;
Sacrificed for me, garnished with citron, I revere it so!
The taste of the sea, just divine!
Sorry, Buddha, this is another precept I just cannot keep.
Thank you, friend. Sending so much love to you.