Emerging

Do you see the shadow of a person among the sunflowers,

looming in the middle of the page?  That' s me,

and this is a self-portrait drawn with colored pencil

in the autumn season of 1997,

during my first year in college,

(at a university I spent one year attending.)

If I were to redraw this picture now,

I would not place myself as a shadow,

lost behind the sunflowers

enveloping me.

How many years later is it now?

My, it's fifteen.

And finally, I am emerging.

- - - - - - - - -

hidden deep within

enveloping cocooning,

held fast perhaps -

embraced in enfolding

until quiescence brought forth

a complete forming

of love, fully known

and experienced

through metamorphosis.

truths unknown

until the process completed;

the manifestation of emergence -

 and i can see me.

~brianne

Turquoise

(Photo credit)

I am turquoise, a gem

I reflect the color of sky and of water

Between shades of blue, you will find me

graced with a touch of green.

There is no other like me.

(Photo Credit)

It's funny, sometimes, the impeccability of timing, and it's been happening a lot in my life lately... this undeniable manifestation of Spirit-orchestration (for example, this).   And the fact that a friend who is helping me with blog design decided to change my background to an ethereal turquoise shade, without any suggestion or urging from me.  And there is more, lots more; the stories don't end, they continue coming.

One of these experiences is of turquoise.  In one of my newer journals, in which I jot down bits of ideas, this recent entry was scribbled:  "turquoise, write a poem about it".  Then while reading this week of The Artist's Way, I noticed one of the tasks at the end of the chapter was to choose a color and write a few sentences about it.  This makes me smile.  The short poem above is what I've written.

And this leads into why I am enjoying Pinterest.  I can go on, type in "turquoise" and find pictures such as what I've posted above.  It is a dreamer's paradise.  The boards I've created so far are as follows:  Art, Edibles, Flowers, Favorite Things, Italy, Mosaics, Music, Textures, Water, Words, Birds, Color, U.S. Places.  I find this online entity to be therapeutic and creative.  It comes highly recommended from me.

What about you?  If you were to be a color and to write a poem about it, what color would you be?  Or perhaps you've done so already, would you share it with me?

As for Pinterest, do you use it?  If so, what boards have you created?  If not, what boards would you imagine creating to collect and capture visions of your interests and dreams?

~Let There Be~

"LET THERE BE"

That's all that was said,
on each day of creation, and there was.

Each element, spoken into creation,
and it existed, it became.

Light, explosions, and even as
this business of creating happened,

the thought to generously

set eternity into the hearts
of men on earth occurred.

I try to fathom all this,

while cutting pictures from various places

and arranging them onto one picture

so I can see them all together -

the velocity, the immensity

of this universe in which I live.

A star explodes in the sky, the Crab Nebula,

and its remnants contain neutron stars -

the weight of which is so dense that
a piece just the size of a sugar cube

is compared to the weight of a mountain.

I cannot behold this

so I just imagine

and place all the pieces,

the crumbs that I've gathered.

It strikes me how much it all fits.

The pictures from the briny deep,

underwater creatures and fauna.

The ice, frozen, mirrors explosions,

and I cannot fathom the worlds

that microscopes would find in them.

The world is studied
through scopes
that help us

see closer

see farther

discover what is

inside and underneath.

I want to behold,

drink it all in,

my mind gazes in wonder

at the depths of all these things.

The resulting praise

leaves me in wonder

at this God

who created

the unimaginable

and who has

unfathomable love

for each human being.


Some of the elements included in this collage design are:  a photographed picture of the Crab Nebula, which is a supernova remnant, the remains of an exploded star.  There are pictures from a local artist, which are from a local magazine journal:  photos taken of "The Art Of Ice".  There are pictures of the "Briney Deep", also shared in the same local journal.  Together, they form a picture of the universe.  Similarities of the elements can be seen.  I am provided with a glimpse of the Creative Mastermind that God is. 

Black Maria Film Festival 2 - Installation

The second film shown in the sequence of the Black Maria Film Festival that my sister & I attended was:
"Installation" - a 7-minute documentary about the installation of artist Richard Serra's "Sculpture Sequence" at Stanford University's Visual Arts Center. 
Here is the trailer for it:



John Columbus, the Festival's Founder/Director, described one of his reasons for choosing this piece as being because of the way the installation of these huge, heavy steel constructed sculptures is compared to a ballet.  While watching the documentary, I realized the importance of each movement and placement of these monstrosities.  The steel constructions are well-made, and viewers get a glimpse of the intense and intricate work that goes into their creation.  Our bridges and buildings, which we trust to hold our lives, are made like this.  The artist has a vision for their placement that must be matched to the exact centimeter.  In the statement Richard Serra makes through his humongous sculptural displays, it is clear that the minutia matters. 

An article in The New Yorker, "Industrial Strength," is referenced, and this quote by writer Peter Schjeldahl is one that I think sums up the message of this documentary and of statements made through Richard Serra's work: 
"It also recalls times when miracles of human invention were still spectacular, like the Brooklyn Bridge, rather than spectral, like the Internet." 

Let's continue to fight in this day and age to recognize and to keep the wonder alive, yes?

Goals: 
There are two sculptural parks that are within my ability to take day trips to, that feature works by Richard Serra, as well as many others.  I have been to Storm King, but not for years now.  Grounds for Sculpture I have not yet visited.  My goal is to visit both of these with my family by the end of this summer.  When I do, I will definitely take many pictures and dedicate a blog post to the experience of visiting each.

Update:
Remember how much I loved Anima Mundi, the first film shown at the Festival?  And how I couldn't find it anywhere online to watch it again?  Well, I contacted Kate Balsley, the filmmaker, told her how much I enjoyed and connected with this film, and asked if there was anywhere to watch it again or attain a DVD.  She sent one to me!  I am so grateful.  And now I can show my loved ones what I'm talking about when kaleidoscopes and fractals fill my brain, now they can actually SEE and HEAR what I'm thinking.  Thank you, Kate!