SERIES One
Hello
SERIES One is an attempt to honor the transformative period of lockdown and COVID-19. The pieces selected represent some of the pieces completed at the peak of isolation and intensity.
I have chosen to honor it because I was changed as an artist and human during 2020. From the pressure, there were formed diamonds.
And diamonds also shine.
Below is a note written for friends and family and those separated for Thanksgiving, 11/26/20. And surely as I wrote it, I did not understand that the greatest message was to myself. So now I trust new wings. I trust color to fly. And I wish that all our great beyonds may turn into fruitful journeys.
What a freaking year
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”
-a very wise law
Thought today was a good day to examine the both sides of things. Especially on a day meant for thankfulness and food.
Perhaps this “special” year deserves a dose of “thoughtfulness” more than any other time as well.
There is a baseline of trauma that each and every one of us has lived daily though this year. To move on, probably we ignore it. But it is there. The sight of the year 2020 almost caused a flinch. However...
There are gifts in the tragedies and hardships waiting to be found. I would challenge us to ponder for some moments this thankful day. How have you survived this year? What that you never recognized or appreciated has saved you? What has changed you forever, and that you are so grateful for? What are the blessings covid has offered you? There is yin and yang, there is Newton and his law. There is goodness there. The question is whether we search for it and honor it.
In symbolic terms, perhaps we have been munching caterpillars for all our lives. In symbolic and realistic terms, lockdown has been like being stuffed into a cocoon. And surely, surely, surely, a caterpillar could never imagine flying.
Fingers crossed, heck all appendages crossed, when this pandemic ends, we can fully step out of our cocoons. There are several things that will be true.
One, we will be forever damaged. We will be intrinsically changed, altered.
Second, there will be a many that try to return to their natural caterpillar life and suffer with their changes.
Third, if we so choose, we will see that we have been given wings. We might choose to fly.
There is so much more hardship coming in the next months. I feel we are on an uncharted path even by 2020 standards. But if we are strong and come together, summer looks like it might turn rosy.
But in closing, I hope and pray that we all become aware of the new blessings we have been given. Be these old blessings never noticed or new ones given to or created by us.
I would postulate confidently, these new blessings are our “wings”. And I would simply implore you that you participate with me in daring to fly. And encouraging others to recognize and use their wings.
The Renaissance occurred after and as a result of the Black Death. The world will accept your greatest gifts if you choose to give them. First, because it will, second because it need them. Healing. Growth. Rebirth. Appreciation.
On the other side of this “journey” there will be days we cannot comprehend. Unconsciously, a hug will never be mundane. Imagine all the smiles we have missed behind masks. And imagine then that the masks are gone.
As these next months challenge us, as we realize that simply turning 2020 into 2021 will not stop the pain, I would implore you that honor and strengthen the “new blessings” you have been given. Again, let them be your wings. And let us be steadfast in the knowledge, the hope, the faith that we will one day soon be given the chance to fly. Flowers will bloom so that seeds can be made. And the seed makers will be we.
As written in the Third Law of Thermodynamics, there is a party coming for us all. One we never could imagine. And it will happen because of what we have lost, what we have sacrificed, what we have honored, and what we have learned.
Be good to yourself. Be better to your neighbor.
And fate willing, see you soon at the World Fiesta. We will all have new dance steps. Compensation for our wings.
May blessings be
Happy Thanksgiving
SERIES One available
for public and private showings
20 x 20 prints on heritage paper, of 100 printing per piece
20 complete series packs available for investment