Reflections on Community

Reflecting on the idea of community makes me a bit sad. Our current idea on it are complicated by technology. I believe that technology may be the greatest threat.



Community used to be less sought after and more necessary. Isolation wasn't desirable or healthy, most people needed family and friends to survive at the turn of the century. Now we can get a job where we work in a cube (alone), go out to lunch and read the paper (alone), keep "in touch" with people online (alone) and go home and watch TV (alone) if we choose. And people wonder why they feel disconnected, sad and lonely. That isn't what we are created for.



Technology is a complication beyond true measure. It's helped us find all kinds of ways for convenience but I believe it has also incited us and underlying faults to cultivate those faults, it's now acceptable or even appropriate to complain about how long Web pages take to load (impatient), it is acceptable to complain about clerks and service people (back biting), it is reasonable to email a thank you (impersonal) ... along with so much more.



We've settled for the convenience of Facebook and forgotten how to offer love and grace to the actual people in front of us. Relationships are difficult, but why do we expect anything different. The clean, sterile, impersonal online stuff isn't real and cultivates a sense of longing for more. It's like diet foods, it just doesn't satisfy the real needs so you go after more.



This week would be great to go for a walk outside, write someone a letter, go out for coffee with someone ... spend a whole day with someone.



Make the time count, make someone feel special.

Shane Claiborne would roll over in his grave, oh, wait ... he's not dead.

FB: *sadness* duh. inflammatory...?! and he says he's going to pray about it and see if God says not to do it, according to another source. What the heck is wrong with people? When has anything violent or harassing been redemptive? If you persist in being dumb, at least be creative with your dumb idea. Use rockets or something, seriously!



Shane Claiborne would roll over in his grave, oh, wait ... he's not dead. But he would! What the H*LL is going on that this makes sense to someone? I mean my streak of "even dumb Christians are my brother" is being tested on this one. I am all for unity. I think the church really does disservice to the culture by being dis-unified but stuff like this will get you blown up and I'm not sure I'm ready for that!



I can't really wrap my head around the logic either. First, this is the direction you want to take--messing with the part of a group that isn't all that stable when it comes to America; and then, to make it worse, saying "well, if God don't want me to do it He'll stop me." Uh, duh. If you are that far off to begin with I'm not sure the Beltone is gonna pick this up either.

Thoughts on Young People

I'm a bit bummed. Most of my topics have been a little on the dark side of life and not funny and quirky as I'd originally thought. Over the last week or so there have been a lot of "irritating" developments with friends of friends and extended family. It just makes me very thankful for the Christ-centeredness that keeps my close friends and family on track.



I guess it is easiest, as always or at least most of the time, to start at the beginning. Young people should not be forced to make choices affecting the whole of their lives when they are 13, 14, 15 etc. It isn't fair and it isn't right. Yes, some know things like what they will do, their passions, their interests but the vast majority are being railroaded into definitions. These definitions are everything from sexual orientation to career paths ... kids should not be expected to pigeon hole themselves into these things. I wish we could focus more on work ethic than on career choice, more on appreciating people instead of knowing your sexual orientation; we need to stop making kids feel afraid they are going to miss out on something if they don't assign themselves to these things. Let's be honest, didn't we all emulate the next oldest kid we thought was great? Now young people are rushing to be adults ... it isn't good. So, that isn't the clearest but it is close so I will just leave it at that.



Then there was this "thing" that just shook my sense of right in the world. I went from unending compassion to irate over the course of a couple days. Someone I thought was in need ended up being a con-artist. To make it worse, I was asking for help on behalf of this person. I feel manipulated and I'm angry about it. It brought back memories of the distrust that came about when a roommate lied to me about the bulk of her life, the way she handled rent and many many other things ... How do you recover any sense of trust in the world? How do you move forward knowing that your desire to see need met with compassion might be utterly twisted? It isn't fair. I've come to the conclusion that the areas where you are most tested, hurt and violated are loosely, sometimes directly, related to your calling in life. The devil just wants you to feel hopeless, useless and unwilling to share that part of yourself. I think that is crap.



And lastly, I'm having a hard time praying lately. It just doesn't seem to be doing anything and I am a bit tired of the strange life situation I am in. There are so many things that are uncomfortable and rather stuck, for lack of a better term. I will choose to pray. I will choose to continue with the hope that it actually does some good somehow. Momentous challenges are faced daily all over the world so I cannot be that special here. I am learning that the "doing" part of faith isn't always what we are meant to be doing. Sometimes the doing is not to do, not to persist, not to exhaust yourself, not to move forward ... that is really hard for me. I'm learning that sometimes the Lord wants us to "be". He wants us to be content, be with Him, be still, be present, be.



I haven't had a great time the last couple weeks. There have been situations of hope-deferred, a lot of new things to wait on, the persistence of irritating things that I can do nothing about and disappointments. So I will be, I will pray and I will wait. Amen.

Tempting to Blame God

It's tempting to blame God for so many things that go "wrong". I think it--the thing about God being the mastermind behind any misery I'm facing at the current moment. But really, how can that possibly be true? I mean, that's like saying that I can know the mind of God, I can know what the outcome is of the thing that I perceive as wrong, like saying that I am smarter or God is retarded somehow.



I guess that's why God does us the favor of making things in all sizes and ages. If we are paying attention we can see how we are like the toddler we prevent from sticking his finger in an outlet. Or maybe how we guide a pet out of danger. I guess I just need to pray for eyes that can see the bigger picture, for ears that can hear the still small voice and wisdom to wait on making the judgment of "wrong".

Feb. 9

The beauty of boundaries in art is often overlooked even your support is in itself a boundary. People think of painters and sculptors as magicians if they don’t feel they have the skills themselves. The reality is that there are sets of skills that allow artists to thrive.

There are the principles of design and the elements of art, there are the limitations of your supplies and the support you choose. There are the restrictions of the shape or form and the list can go on and on.

Once an artist embraces the limitations and begins to bounce ideas off of them things begin to flow.

Jan. 31

Thinking about creativity:

Sharpening this skill takes practice and there are a few approaches that've helped me-

fluidity-managing your own expectations of the final result

flexibility with the materials at hand and the expected result

boundaries, sounds strange but giving yourself a set of criteria or a theme will help

open to experimentation along the way

open to chance occurrences and embracing them

looking at accidents as happy things that will eventually make the work better

giving yourself freedom to vary what's happening

find a place that feels safe to create-don't ask for input until you are really ready to hear it because it could derail you

use all your senses, understand the elements of design as foundational and the principles as building blocks

be present

don't view a limitation in supplies or materials as a stopping point--press forward and see if you can finish with what you have

embrace your limitations and the limitations around you--being tired or crabby or having an irritation can impact your ability to create



2010

I finished up Studio 210, at Neville Public Museum, this August and they will hang two new images from the Studio in 2011 for a show, Fall 2011. As well as being included in the Richeson 75 this fall, showing in November and December 2010, and this past spring the NWTC ArtWalk. It has been a good year!

Sept. 11 wass the Botanical Garden Harvestfest , a free day at the Gardens with a ton of exhibit and vendor booths ... seems like a great way to see the beauty there.

And late Sept. was the ArtCraftic in downtown Green Bay. Great event! This helped some friends and I raise a combined total of $650.00 to give to an AIDs charity project. More info below.

The Project: Right now I am also trying to raise money for friends who are working with AIDS orphans. They'd like to start a project to feed these kids. I have cards prints and other things for sale including a another Blurb book. Cookbook is online, the cards, pins and custom work you can contact me for.



Other info: Portfolio images in Fine Art, Graphic Design and Photography to the left. Art Class information: Please contact me with individual requests. See the Art Class page for more info. Resources are available upon request for Art Teachers, events, and sales.

Aug. 26

AND The No Ticket Tailgate Party now has it's own site at http://notickettailgateparty.com/default.aspx as well as some albums here. 09

July 19

A word about the Community Art Project:



"Art is the most intense mode of invidualism that the world has known." Oscar Wilde.

Brainstorms lead to a sheet of 4’ x 8’ plywood being mounted to the wall. We called it “The Community Art Project” thinking it was a good way to help those leery of contributing a complete work of art or those who thought they could only draw stick people. It worked to some degree.

At first I was disappointed at the sheer number of people who just wrote; they added words, verses and sayings. I didn’t like where it was going but through it there were small additions and then large ones and blocks of color that started pulling it together. In the end I must say that I have seldom been as surprised as I was with this odd but really cool piece of art. It was bright, whimsical, free-flowing and ultimately both spontaneous and a patchwork of glimpses into the lives of passers-by. I won’t soon forget it. 09