Global Art Project - Banner from Australia

This post completes the series about the Global Art Project, from May of this year when a local group of us created a banner to exchange with another group in the world.

This is the group that received our piece - they are from a girls' school in Australia.

The banner we received now hangs at PEEC, a local environmental center, and the same place where we displayed our banner and collected paper handprints during the Earth Day Festival.  I've heard that many people wish they had more banners to hang as decorations.

This was such a fun and meaningful project,

to piece together peace,

and find all the meanings and messages

that came through from the project

as a whole.

For more info on the Global Art Project,

click the highlighted words to go to the webpage.

Hiding a Letterbox

Previously, I posted about letterboxing and how to get started. 
This post is about a letterbox that we hid.

Stamps can be expensive, but we found this whole package of stamps at a local craft store and used a 1/2 price coupon to purchase it.  The price came out to be $5.

We made our own booklets using cardboard for the front and back covers and blank paper for the pages.  The kids stamped some designs onto the covers, and chose pictures for collage.

"In wilderness I sense the miracle of life and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia." 

~Charles A. Lindbergh

The tupperware container is the box we use to put everything in, and the felt and stapler are for creating a little pouch to put the box's stamp in.

We secured the cardboard cover and blank pages together with string.  We put the booklet, the stamp (in its pouch), and a printed page about letterboxing into the container.  We also wrote "congratulations, you found a letterbox!" on an index card and secured this to the inside of the lid.  Then we put the letterbox into a large ziploc bag.

We selected a location to hide our letterbox and went for a walk there with friends.  The perfect rock to hide it under was discovered, and the letterbox was placed.

Some large rocks were placed in front of it to camoflauge the box even better.

This is the perfect rock for a letterbox!

The notes I scribbled down while we were walking included clues that my kids pointed out along the way, and guiding points for those who'd seek to find the box we hid.

We've also created a couple "HitchHiker"/"Traveler" stamps.  So far we've hid one in a letterbox we found locally.  Hitchhiker stamps are picked up by whoever finds them next, and travel from box to box by those who discover them.  It is fun to track their travels on the website, which is updated with their new location by those who find and replace them elsewhere.

Another letterbox we created but have not yet placed has this quote on the cover:

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." 

~Rachel Carson

Here is another site that is all about letterboxing, and is set up in a fun, visual way: AtlasQuest.

We hope we've inspired you to enjoy the adventures of letterboxing!

River Road Cleanup

This post is about something special that my family & I did together recently.  We had such a good time and took some nice pictures that will fit well into a blog memorabilia page.

We participated in a cleanup on one of the scenic roads that is part of the beautiful national forest region we live in.

As I post these pictures I smile, remembering what a good time we had together.  Who would have thought that collecting garbage off the sides of a road could be so much fun and carry such meaning?

Leave it to my insightful son to find significance in everything and share comments to express his thoughtful mind.  "Hey Mom," he says, "it's like, all these little things, people think they don't even matter, but they really do," as he picks up some small piece of trash to add to our garbage bag. 

It's the infinitesimal, speaking & calling, the truth that we need to look closely, pick up the tiny pieces that were tossed as if they didn't matter, and realize the impact of each and every stitch.  I know this, but I need to be constantly reminded.  Just last week on Jeopardy, I heard the word.  It was an answer to a $2,000 Double Jeopardy clue in the 13-letter word category.  The first contestant to answer got it wrong for leaving out a syllable.  The infinitesimal matters.

This is what we see when we look closely.  We find beauty in the small things, and we find hearts too.

Louise Nevelson - Atmosphere & Environment

One of Louise Nevelson's sculptures, Atmosphere & Environment XII, stands outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  With our three little ones it was easier not to go inside the art museum at this time, and awesome to have the opportunity to experience this sculpture and other sculptures outside on the property, which we could view for free.

After seeing Louise Nevelson's Bicentennial Dawn in person just a day before, I knew this viewing would be another interactive experience, in which we became part of the art.  I knew to look and see with the perspective that art changes and that statements are made not only by the art but by how the art is seen, how it changes over the years, and its placement in the world.

It's significant that Nevelson named this sculpture "Atmosphere & Environment".  And this one is number seven in her series of sculptures with the same name.  I'd be interested in doing further study of where the others are placed, what their atmospheres & environments are like.  What statements do they all make individually and as a whole?

This one here is set with the current picture in the background.  The museum is adding an addition; the environment is changing.  The environment is always changing.  Nothing stays the same.  Our perspective always needs to change.

Just as she did in Bicentennial Dawn, Nevelson sculpts new ways to see in the form of her structure.  She did this for herself as she was living and creating.  She leaves this legacy for us who view and experience her large body of work, in the placement of her pieces across the globe.

We are part of the art, we see ourselves through it as we see the world through it.  We see the whole compilation of the background and foreground as a complete composition.

The art itself changes, it rusts over time because of the material its made from, caused by changes in its atmosphere and environment.  The same happens to us as people, we are always changing.

Through Atmosphere & Environment XII the sculpture Social Consciousness by Jacob Epstein is visible.  The statements this placement makes could be further investigated too.

For now, I leave you with this food for thought.  I have been changed by viewing the sculptures in person, and will continue to seek out experiences where I can see Louise Nevelson's art in person because her work speaks multitudes to me.

Find here a list of her public artworks collection, and here another list of where her work is shown internationally. Is there anywhere near you where you can view Nevelson's work in person? If you go, will you share your photos and thoughts on your experience with me?

Canticle of Creation

It's been fun going on outings that provide opportunity to experience life in fullness, such as Loch Lomond and Sunday worship.  My sister & I had such a good time at the Black Maria Film Festival, and met up again for an art gallery reception at Traillworks. 

It was wonderful meeting other artists, taking part in the creation of a Handala, talking with studio owner - artist Jennie Traill Schaeffer, local artist Joanne Wells Greenbaum, and viewing a large, three-dimensional clay piece by Earthsongs artist Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella.

That piece, entitled Canticle of Creation, was based on a song of praise by Saint Francis of Assisi.  He wrote it during a difficult time in his life.  As written on the Sisters of St. Francis website, "Francis saw God in everything and so do we.  We look upon the earth with humility and with an open and grateful heart, aware of the divine goodness in all things."  Here's his canticle:

CANTICLE OF CREATION

Saint Francis of Assisi, 1225 A.D.

Be praised Good Lord for Brother Sun

who brings us each new day.

Be praised for Sister Moon: white

beauty bright and fair, with wandering

stars she moves through the night.

Be praised my Lord for Brother Wind,

for air and clouds and the skies of every season.

Be praised for Sister Water: humble,

helpful, precious, pure; she cleanses

us in rivers and renews us in rain.

Be praised my Lord for Brother fire:

he purifies and enlightens us.

Be praised my Lord for Mother Earth:

abundant source, all life sustaining;

she feeds us bread and fruit and gives us flowers.

Be praised my Lord for the gift of life;

for changing dusk and dawn; for touch

and scent and song.

Be praised my Lord for those who

pardon one another for love of thee,

and endure sickness and tribulation.

Blessed are they who shall endure it in

peace, for they shall be crowned by Thee.

Be praised Good Lord for sister Death

who welcomes us in loving embrace.

Be praised my Lord for all your

creation serving you joyfully.

Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella has been creating art to represent the Canticle of Creation for years, I discovered, as I searched online for a picture of her current piece that I saw at Traillworks.  The art pictured above is located at Neumann University, created by Linda and Sister Christopher Marie Wagner in 1990.  "The artists' inspiration for the Canticle mural came from the beautiful hymn written by St. Francis is of Assisi in the twelth century - The Canticle of Creatures. This hymn celebrates the beauty, diversity and power of God's creation. Written at the end of his life, the work captures the Franciscan celebration of God's majesty.
   The mural is lcoated in the Rocco A. Abessinio Bulding. It reflects healing symbols by use of water and fire as well as emotional and spiritual healing through reconciliation."

I think that viewing Linda's sacred work is a holy experience, and the mirror elements in the piece I saw at Traillworks remain with me as symbols worthy of further contemplation.  I interacted with Louise Nevelson's work at the Locks Gallery which included mirror elements and will take time next week to consider that experience more fully through a blog post. 

For now, I praise my Lord, as St. Francis of Assisi did, for all Creation serving Him joyfully.

Sunday Hearts

It's Sunday morning and I'm driving to the Book Sale, listening to The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks on audio CD.  I pass the big church and its full parking lot as I listen to the part of the book where Ronnie reads the last letter that her dad wrote to her, and my eyes are tearing as I think about love and grace and forgiveness, and I feel my heart changing.  It's church in my car this morning.

Slowing down at the book sale, I graze tables of books, finding many to bring home to my family. No one wanted to join me, so it's my own adventure today. I talk to a couple ladies about the Holocaust as I make my purchase, supporting the library, because I bought a copy of Anne Frank's Diary
just in case I didn't still have mine. We share our amazement at the strength of the Jewish people who have survived so much.  Through the years and the persecution, the culture reigns strong. It says a lot, we all agree, as we talk about other books we've read (Sarah's Key , The Inextinguishable Symphony, Night, Things We Couldn't Say), share stories about people we've known, and I think about my own ancestors who were able to escape to America.

Upon leaving, I slow down once again, to park and walk towards a sign I need to photograph.

If it weren't for Clytie's Random Hearts, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it.

My beyond walls worship experience continues as I find refuge in moments of peace found in a hidden little luxury full of wildflowers, birds in trees, ladybugs on leaves, butterflies fluttering and water flowing, by the place I've parked my car in order to photograph these spray painted peace hearts.

I thank God for His guidance and His presence in my life as I sit here thinking about how it'll be just fine to continue this adventure today, for a little while.

I continue listening to The Last Song, and am again teary-eyed about Ronnie finishing the composition of her father's piano piece by overlaying her notes within it, and her dad's quote,“Life, he realize, was much like a song. In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it's in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole thing worthwhile.”  ― Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song

At the old mill, the wheels are turning continuously, keeping the water flowing, and I breathe in the trustworthy smell of old must as the wheels in my head perpetuate too.

The writing on the wall says "free love, man", and I hear on the radio later about God's love being free and being for everybody and crossing boundaries, and again I thank Him.

For life's sermons today, I thank Him.

Linking up with these authentic online communities:

Thank you, Clytie for featuring this, too!