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Sacred Arts Ring: Pre-Christmas Edition

I am out at my hermitage and forgot to bring my camera, so I can’t show you what I’ve been working on.   So instead I did a lap around the Sacred Arts Ring and offer you much beauty to peruse below.  I will be posting for the Solstice on Friday and then taking a blogging break until the new year.  I’d still love to hear your comments and feedback on the previous post, so thank you to everyone who has commented or emailed so far. I want to offer a warm welcome to the two newest members of the Sacred Arts Ring:

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December 19, 2007

Sacred Stories Across Generations

“a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” -Isaiah 11:1 (from the second Sunday of Advent) Yesterday I gathered together all of the images I had found of my aunt and uncle (my mother’s siblings) as children and worked on creating something for each of them as a gift this Christmas.  I am not very close to my uncle so I am not sure how this will be received, but I felt the need and desire to create it.  This journey of reaching back across time and telling these stories through image

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December 17, 2007

Shoveling Snow

  I haven’t posted my own art in a couple of days mostly because I have gotten absorbed in sifting through photo bins and selecting more images for future work and then scanning them into the computer to reprint.  I have noticed a little twinge of guilt rise within me — you said you were going to make art every day during Advent, aren’t you letting this preparation of materials take too long?   Ah my inner-taskmaster, I have actually grown fond of her as she often helps me to get things done, however I have also learned to recognize when

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December 16, 2007

Learning to Fly

Tim You’ve only just arrived  Now you’ve begun to go  My God, how much I love you  How my whole body aches with  The glory that is you.    Constantly changing, sometimes slowly,  Sometimes in one heartbeat    Or the blink of an eye.  Becoming,    always becoming,    your self.    Already my hands rest open  You sitting there in the palm    of my hand  Stretching your wings  Testing the wind  Learning to fly.  -Rebecca Johnson ***** Rebecca was a participant in our most recent Awakening the Creative Spirit program.  She came with perhaps the least background in

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December 15, 2007

Women who journeyed before me

    I thought some of you might be interested to see the original photos I cropped to make the art piece for Monday’s Poetry Party.  The woman on the top was my paternal grandmother Erika who died when I was one year old.  The middle woman I actually don’t know, I found her photo among the others and loved the way she was looking at the camera.  She is connected to my family in some way, but it is still a mystery.  The woman in the bottom photo was my great grandmother, Erika’s mother Ernestine, but she went by Erna.  Erika and

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December 14, 2007

Courage Unparalleled

This journey of making art for Advent has been an illuminating one for me, as I take time to be with the images of people who are a part of my very lifeblood and discover how their stories are precisely my own story.  Sometimes this commitment of making art means just showing up and allowing whatever unfolds to happen, even if it doesn’t feel as done or revealing as some of the other art I have been making. Such is the case with the piece above, it is only a waystation to something else, but I decided that if I didn’t finish a piece one day,

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December 13, 2007

Advent Resource

I got a very gracious email from Jan Richardson, whose book Night Visions I highly recommended here a couple of weeks ago as my all-time favorite Advent resource.  She reported that she is now sold out and hopes to have it re-published by next year.  But she also shared with me an Advent blog she has created: The Advent Door — even more of her wonderful art and words for me to savor.  I’m looking forward to making a cup of tea and lingering there for a while.  So head on over for a visit, but before you do, make sure to

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December 12, 2007

Pilgrimage Staff

One day while walking along the shores of the Hood Canal near my hermitage I found a great big wooden stick. It was sturdy and the right height so I brought it back to sit with it for a while and ask how it wanted me to embellish it.  Often when I lead art programs I talk about art as being both tabernacle and pilgrimage — a sacred container and a sacred journey of discovery.  It holds the power of both.  I have wanted to have a staff and a small box as symbols of these energies of art.  At

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December 11, 2007

Invitation to Poetry: Waiting, Watching

Our 9th Poetry Party — what fun!  I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc.  Leave them in the comments or email me and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if you have one (not required to participate!)  I’ll add your contributions all week and then I will draw a name on Friday again from everyone who participates and will send the winner a copy of my newest zine Callings. Feel free to post

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December 10, 2007

kindness of strangers, embracing the unexpected

I was driving down to the Priory yesterday morning for my Advent Oblate retreat when about 20 miles down I-5 my car started vibrating and I saw smoke pluming from the rear. I was able to get off to the side of the road and slowly drove off the next exit. I thought there was something wrong with the engine, but relieved to see it was just the tire that was flat.  However my cell phone was out of power and I had forgotten my AAA card, so I got out of the car and began to look in back to

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December 9, 2007