I was watching the movie Basquiat. I heard this spoken and I had to stop. It completely arrested me and I felt it worthy of quoting and remembering..... The narration may have been by the director Julian Schnable.
"What is it about art anyway that we give it so much importance? Artists are respected by the poor because what they do is an honest way to get out of the slums using one's sheer self as a medium. The money earned is proof pure and simple that the value of that individual is the artist. The picture a mother's son does in jail hangs on her wall, and is proof that beauty is possible even in the most wretched, and this is a much different idea than art is a scam and a ripoff. But you could never explain this to someone who uses God's gift to enslave, but you have used God's gift to be free."
Basquiat was being interviewed and here are several quotes from him that I loved.
"People are generally crude...I don't know that many refined people."
The question was posed to him by the interviewer....
"Do you consider yourself a painter or a black painter? Basquiat responded....
"Oh I use a lot of colors besides black." (I love it!!!)
And something he said that I would like to put on a T Shirt....
"I don't exploit.....No."
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The Artist
The artist's way is, some might say...
Like the changing of the tide
From life's stormy seas
Captured in antimony
With my eyes ever looking to the sky....
I remain a woman-child deep inside
And so to this end....ever changing still
There is a song that I am humming...
And within the beauty of the melody...
"The joy lies in the becoming"
Like the changing of the tide
From life's stormy seas
Captured in antimony
With my eyes ever looking to the sky....
I remain a woman-child deep inside
And so to this end....ever changing still
There is a song that I am humming...
And within the beauty of the melody...
"The joy lies in the becoming"
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Quotes by Madeline L'Engle
Madeline L'Engle is one of my favorite artists. Here are some quotes by her.
A book comes and says, "Write me." My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough, but all I can do is listen to it, do what it tells me and collaborate.
Our truest responsibility to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find the truth.
Infinity is present in each part. A loving smile contains all art. The motes of starlight spark and dart. A grain of sand holds power and might.
Truth is eternal. Knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.
I do not think that I will ever reach a stage when I will say, "This is what I believe. Finished." What I believe is alive ... and open to growth.
What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn.
In the evening of life we shall be judged on love, and not one of us is going to come off very well, and were it not for my absolute faith in the loving forgiveness of my Lord I could not call on him to come
Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.
Deepest communion with God is beyond words, on the other side of silence.
I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly
When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability.... To be alive is to be vulnerable
The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been
I like the fact that in ancient Chinese art the great painters always included a deliberate flaw in their work: human creation is never perfect
A book comes and says, "Write me." My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough, but all I can do is listen to it, do what it tells me and collaborate.
Our truest responsibility to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find the truth.
Infinity is present in each part. A loving smile contains all art. The motes of starlight spark and dart. A grain of sand holds power and might.
Truth is eternal. Knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.
I do not think that I will ever reach a stage when I will say, "This is what I believe. Finished." What I believe is alive ... and open to growth.
What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn.
In the evening of life we shall be judged on love, and not one of us is going to come off very well, and were it not for my absolute faith in the loving forgiveness of my Lord I could not call on him to come
Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.
Deepest communion with God is beyond words, on the other side of silence.
I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly
When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability.... To be alive is to be vulnerable
The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been
I like the fact that in ancient Chinese art the great painters always included a deliberate flaw in their work: human creation is never perfect
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
"The Greatest Dignity of All"
This is part of a quote for today from Ransomed Heart Ministries. It is deep and true.
" If you want a world where love is real, you must allow each person the freedom to choose."
" If you want a world where love is real, you must allow each person the freedom to choose."
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
"Set Apart and Appointed"
This is lovely and I hope it will encourage you today
Set Apart and Appointedby Jon Walker
"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world." (Jeremiah 1:5 NLT)
Of all my teachers in school, the most influential was Judy Black, my English teacher at Miami Killian High School. Because of Judy, I can still recite the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet; I know the significance of Xanadu; and I know one of the things that attracted me to my wife is that she looked like she’d just stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting.
But the greatest gift Judy gave me was the confidence that I was shaped to be a writer. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. For years, when few people read what I wrote, she encouraged me. She still writes to me regularly, asking me to report on the progress of my novel (25 years in the making – someday, Judy).
In Jeremiah 1:5, we’re taught that God created Jeremiah to share the Creator’s message with the nations. I believe God shaped (appointed) Judy Black to share her enthusiasm for English and literature with public high school students like me. I now believe God shaped me to share my writing with others (thank you, Judy); and I believe God created you to share yourself with those around you.
We are all diminished if you hide yourself under a bushel, keeping your skills, your talents, your insights, your joy, and your pain hidden from others. God wants you to share yourself; he created you with a uniqueness that enriches the world when you give yourself to the community around you.
Ask God why He created you and what you’re supposed to give away. Whose life will you influence by giving your time and talent? Maybe you’re a great singer, or a great cook, or a great mechanic, or a great teacher. Whatever gift God has given you, he gave it to you to give away in service to him.
So what?
· God gave you life; now give – You were created to share your life and talents with the community around you. Whatever gifts God gave you, he gave them to you so you could give them in service to him.
· Find a way to share – What is your talent? What is your passion? Whatever it is, ask God to show you ways to share it with others. Tell God you want to be used by him to bless those around you, and then begin to actively watch for the doors he opens.
· Say thanks to one who shared – No doubt someone in your life was influential to you, just as Judy was influential to me. Maybe you haven’t seen or heard from that person in years or maybe that person lives in the same house as you. Regardless, talk/call/write/visit that person and say thank you – “Thank you for what you shared and for the way you so deeply influenced my life.”
© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.
Set Apart and Appointedby Jon Walker
"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world." (Jeremiah 1:5 NLT)
Of all my teachers in school, the most influential was Judy Black, my English teacher at Miami Killian High School. Because of Judy, I can still recite the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet; I know the significance of Xanadu; and I know one of the things that attracted me to my wife is that she looked like she’d just stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting.
But the greatest gift Judy gave me was the confidence that I was shaped to be a writer. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. For years, when few people read what I wrote, she encouraged me. She still writes to me regularly, asking me to report on the progress of my novel (25 years in the making – someday, Judy).
In Jeremiah 1:5, we’re taught that God created Jeremiah to share the Creator’s message with the nations. I believe God shaped (appointed) Judy Black to share her enthusiasm for English and literature with public high school students like me. I now believe God shaped me to share my writing with others (thank you, Judy); and I believe God created you to share yourself with those around you.
We are all diminished if you hide yourself under a bushel, keeping your skills, your talents, your insights, your joy, and your pain hidden from others. God wants you to share yourself; he created you with a uniqueness that enriches the world when you give yourself to the community around you.
Ask God why He created you and what you’re supposed to give away. Whose life will you influence by giving your time and talent? Maybe you’re a great singer, or a great cook, or a great mechanic, or a great teacher. Whatever gift God has given you, he gave it to you to give away in service to him.
So what?
· God gave you life; now give – You were created to share your life and talents with the community around you. Whatever gifts God gave you, he gave them to you so you could give them in service to him.
· Find a way to share – What is your talent? What is your passion? Whatever it is, ask God to show you ways to share it with others. Tell God you want to be used by him to bless those around you, and then begin to actively watch for the doors he opens.
· Say thanks to one who shared – No doubt someone in your life was influential to you, just as Judy was influential to me. Maybe you haven’t seen or heard from that person in years or maybe that person lives in the same house as you. Regardless, talk/call/write/visit that person and say thank you – “Thank you for what you shared and for the way you so deeply influenced my life.”
© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.
Monday, January 14, 2008
From "Ransomed Heart Ministries" "Born Into an Epic"
Born into an Epic01/14/2008
A Story. An Epic. Something hidden in the ancient past. Something dangerous now unfolding. Something waiting in the future for us to discover. Some crucial role for us to play. Christianity, in its true form, tells us that there is an Author and that he is good, the essence of all that is good and beautiful and true, for he is the source of all these things. It tells us that he has set our hearts’ longings within us, for he has made us to live in an Epic. It warns that the truth is always in danger of being twisted and corrupted and stolen from us because there is a Villain in the Story who hates our hearts and wants to destroy us. It calls us up into a Story that is truer and deeper than any other, and assures us that there we will find the meaning of our lives. What if ? What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears—what if they are telling you something about the true Story into which you were born, the Epic into which you have been cast? We won’t begin to understand our lives, or what this so-called gospel is that Christianity speaks of, until we understand the Story in which we have found ourselves. For when you were born, you were born into an Epic that has already been under way for quite some time. It is a Story of beauty and intimacy and adventure, a Story of danger and loss and heroism and betrayal. (Epic, 14-15)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Coup de Grace'
To One Most Dear
And Princely Man...
The lady may not partake
Of such sweet course
And interface
She requests kind Sir
Please...extend your grace.
To such expressed in innocence
Forgive her passions swell
For there came a tempest in her heart
That she could not foretell.
Be as it may
And to this end
In such a daunting place
Silently she'll take her leave
Though never to forget the face
Of one bestowed
With sweet regard
And tender sadness interlaced
For to love you best my princely man
In the purest sense
Would bring you no disgrace.
And Princely Man...
The lady may not partake
Of such sweet course
And interface
She requests kind Sir
Please...extend your grace.
To such expressed in innocence
Forgive her passions swell
For there came a tempest in her heart
That she could not foretell.
Be as it may
And to this end
In such a daunting place
Silently she'll take her leave
Though never to forget the face
Of one bestowed
With sweet regard
And tender sadness interlaced
For to love you best my princely man
In the purest sense
Would bring you no disgrace.
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