We love that Eckhart Tolle uses the term “good news” to preface his exploration of all the illusions humanity clings to.  Christians will quickly recognize the phrase … good news (or good messenger) that comes from the Greek work evangelion/εὐαγγέλιον which has come to commonly refer to the four gospel accounts that record Jesus’ life and teachings.  These are stories of the one sent to break through the darkness of humanity’s illusion and reorient the world to the fullness of God’s intention for creation.
 
Breaking through illusions and seeking a new earth is a consistent theme in the evolution of all human spirituality and philosophy.  While, the Buddha, the Hebrew Prophets, Confucius, Jesus, and Muhammad might have defined this good news quite differently, the message was always the same … human selfishness, greed, and a desire for power creates profound injustices in our life together.  To rediscover the fullness of our humanity begins with the recognition of these false reality that surrounds us … but we mistake as reality.
 
These enlightened men and women, along with their followers, have always relied on the arts and the creative imagination as a key tool to name and to break through the illusion.  Music, storytelling, drama, poetry, and the visual arts provided the tools, storyline, score, and stage sets for this new or awakened consciousness. 
 
As this community witnessed Pat’s energetic embrace of this ancient spiritual tradition through contemporary teachers like Eckhart Tolle, this community witnessed profound shifts in her artistic production.  Pat’s artistic practice and her spiritual practice are becoming reflections of one another.  Gone are the fun and light-hearted paintings and multi-edition prints that where much loved … and financially lucrative.  In their place are profound meditations on the human spirit and visualizations of our interconnectedness with each other and our world. 
 
The works in this exhibition were selected from the last four years of Pat’s artistic and spiritual practice.  Utilizing her often repeated mantra … “it’s either love or fear” … the works reflect her spirituality about choosing love.  Like any good disciple, Pat invites us to look through the illusion … past the ego … and toward a diverse and loving world filled with hope. 
 
As many spiritual traditions recognize, the transformation of an individual’s consciousness is solely the interior work of the individual.  The gift of the creative imagination … for both the seeker and the viewer … is to provide alternative visions of reality to contemplate, and thus aid the journey of awakening and a new vision of reality.
 
The visual centerpiece of the exhibition is an intentional installation of a donkey, an elephant, and the old church pew.  The exhibition invites to viewer to rethink the reality/illusion around us.  There is no greater feeling in our culture than the seemingly insurmountable divides we have created for ourselves and our life together.  This assemblage invites us to sit and ponder what is the reality …. and what is the illusion … and how do we reorient our current cultural crisis.  As Eckhart Tolle reminds us … the survival of illusion depends on us mistaking it for reality.
 
Mitchell Bond and Patrick Ellis

"life sucks, here's why, you can fix it, here's how"
 
- The Buddha
(as paraphrased by Andrew Henry, Religion for Breakfast)
 
The brokenness that is at the root of our current divisions and polarization is not new, but a sadly ever-reoccurring cycle in human history.  However, each of these cycles is also accompanied by great strides in philosophical and spiritual thinking.  Crises can bring great opportunities to reorient our understanding of our life together.  Religion and art have always responded in profound ways to human brokenness! 

A genuine confession of personal fault and the sincere desire for reconciliation are the key ingredients of any social healing.  The rites and rituals of all the world’s great religious traditions not only provide the opportunity to acknowledge personal fault, but they also offer accompanying rites and rituals of healing and reconciliation to bring what was broken back together.  Religion can give us a design for a journey toward wholeness. 

It is not the intention of this installation for viewers to choose a side, but rather to recognize that we find ourselves on either side of this installation at any given time.  In all religions … the rites and rituals associated with confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation are by necessity repeatable!  We are all broken … and need to be made whole … repeatedly.

This is the third time we have used Shelley Koopmann’s piece depicting Donald Trump alone at Leonardo DaVinci’s Last Supper it in a curated show.  Over the years the painting has shifted from a real-time political cartoon to a commentary on how politicians weaponize faith.  In this installation, the painting serves as a symbol and metaphor of an entrenched polarization in our collective consciousness and current social zeitgeist.

So, what do we mean when we say that Donald Trump becomes a symbols/metaphor?  In this show, Trump has become each of us, an image of our own brokenness and our isolated lives … lives lived in an age of global social and electronic connectedness.  The man alone at the table represents the worst in all of us … a shorthand for human immorality and pride … and an image for the political and religious division we choose to fester and exploit, and not to heal.  Donald Trump is us.

The writer of the Book of Daniel often begins his moral or ethical folktales with a historical marker situating the story in actual human history;  “in the first year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,” “in the second year of the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia.”  These tales of human courage and faithfulness are set within the clash between the human will for the survival and the human will for self-destruction.  In each story, the interplay between the reigning tyrant and a faithful hero sets-up the narrative’s plot and ultimately the tale’s moral and ethical lesson.
 
Both Chapter 6 and Chapter 11 begin with the historical marker “in the first year of the reign of King Darius the Mede.”  This installation draws on elements from these two chapters – a song in Chapter 6 after Daniel’s trial and deliverance from the lion’s den, and the sweeping 250-year overview of human history found in Chapter 11.
 
The world history outlined in Chapter 11 presents a sweeping drama of armies and kings at war in all corners of the ancient middle east.  A tapestry of blood, anger, greed and self-serving tyrants from the Babylonian Empire, through Egyptian, Persian and Macedonian conquest, all finally culminating in Syrian control under the rule Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  A real-life biblical Game of Thrones describing two and a half centuries of human vanity, greed and sinfulness that brings about an ongoing legacy of death and destruction.
 
Hovering over this global chessboard are the words to a song voicing the central message in the Book of Daniel.  This liturgical canticle in Chapter 6, remarkably, does not come from Daniel but rather comes from the mouth of King Darius after Daniel’s miraculous deliverance from certain death.  The words to this song give the reader an alternative way of thinking about life together in this world, as well as the certainty that God will win in the end over the destructive powers of oppression and violence.  Ultimately the events of history are not ordained by God but are rather the result of free human choices centered in greed and selfishness … humanity’s ever-present sin of desiring more than it needs at the expense of its neighbor’s life and livelihood. 

The various folktales of the Book of Daniel were brought together at one of the lowest points in Jewish religious and cultural history.  The stories served to give direction and hope to a people of faith caught in the middle of extreme cruelty and oppression.  The writer weaves together a rich sampling of hope-filled Jewish stories during a time when religious practices were outlawed, Torah scrolls were being burned, children were torn from their mothers, and the temple was being desecrated with images of foreign gods and the sacrifice of unclean animals. 
The writer gathers stories of faithfulness and interweaves them with the various kingdoms from human history to remind the faithful that the struggle for survival in the time of tyrants is not new.  This is an ongoing struggle within the history of all people seeking to live in covenant with their god and neighbor but find themselves caught up in some seemingly beyond their control.  While the stories highlight the interplay between a faithful hero and the powerful (and often witless) tyrant, the target audience of the writer’s work are the simple people of faith who need a road map for what to do next and how to respond to evil in their midst. 
 
Interestingly, many other unsavory characters emerge in the storytelling.  The legions of sycophants who surround the king and his court plot and manipulate in order to gain favor, protection and prestige from the tyrant.   Likewise, a host of compliant religious leaders who choose to ally with the king for many of the same reasons.  For the writer of Daniel, the tyrant, the sycophant, and the compliant religious leaders put their faith in people or powers or systems that ultimately cannot save.
 
But maybe more interesting, the writer also calls the simple religious folks to accountability.  In a lengthy prayer after his deliverance from the Lion’s den, Daniel first recounts how God has delivered his people in the past and describes a God whose steadfast love is both renowned and dependable.  But then Daniel’s words become penitential and he declares that the faithful have also sinned and done wrong, been wicked, and rebelled.  They too had forgotten how to live in right relationship with god, with each other, and with their world.  The path to wholeness begins with their own confession.
 
Over the past three centuries, the folktales of the Book of Daniel have had an honored place in the shared canon of both Jewish and Christian revelation and imagination because humanity has too often found itself in this same pattern of death and destruction.  Today, many of us find ourselves needing a roadmap for responding to evil in our midst and a world dangerously out of control.  We too live in a world of saber-rattling madmen surrounded by cheering sycophants, evangelical religious leaders that equate their own economic security with god’s blessing, global economic systems that are enthusiastically endorsed but benefit the very few, extreme nationalism disguising itself as patriotism, and an intentional policies of inhospitality directed at those most vulnerable and needy among us. 

The community that Daniel was writing for two and a half centuries ago would have understood our dilemma and responded … God will triumph. 

Sacrifice. Often when we talk about war or conflict, we speak in terms of sacrifice. The soldiers, the families and the communities who sacrificed life, relationship and treasure in pursuit of a “greater good” become the currency a nation spends. When the sacrifice becomes too big, the cost too high to imagine it can become blurry and impossible to comprehend.  Individuals, like the soldiers from Bedford, become surrogates for the millions that died in battle. They become the lens we use to humanize the horror, to grieve and feel gratitude without being immobilized or hardened by the facts. Their sacrifice gives us a path to consider all that was done and all that was lost.
 
On June 6, 1944, 35 men from Bedford came to Omaha beach to take Europe back from Nazi Germany. Nineteen of them did not survive the day. Those 19 men were part of 842 men who died on Omaha Beach who were part of the approximately 10,000 soldiers that died on D-day. The 77-day long battle for Normandy was brutal with a casualty rate of 6,675 people a day. By the end of WWII approximately 4,000 Bedford county citizens, out of a population of 40,000, were in uniform.  Somewhere between 70 – 85 million people died in WWII, approximately 3% of the world’s population, many from war related disease and famine. 
 
This piece honors the story of the men from Bedford specifically, but also pays tribute to those who have fought and sacrificed on foreign soil and at home.  Hopefully, it also speaks to what can come from sacrifice - what can grow in the fields of despair or blossom into better being.
 
In Flanders Field   by John McCrae
 
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
    Between the crosses, row on row,
  That mark our place; and in the sky
  The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
  Loved and were loved, and now we lie
      In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
  The torch; be yours to hold it high.
  If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
      In Flanders fields.*
 
*emphasis added
 
Note – Flanders field is located in the county of Flanders in southern Belgium and north west France which was part of the western front during WW I.  This poem was written by a Canadian doctor Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, inspired by the poppies growing amongst the graves of those who had died on the battle field.  Poppies were also chosen to honor my Grandfather, George Gill, who fought in WWI and will be forever remembered handing out poppies in support of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).    

The Bedford Boys fought for freedom so that I can now fight for equality and justice for all.
 
“So much is lost when we refuse to cross the “borders” that keep us apart.
 
How much are the people for whom Christ died suffering because we remain paralyzed and divided by our differences when we should be working together as the hands and feet of Jesus in the world?  There must be a better and more efficient way to carry out our roles within the mission of God. Surely, we can do better.” 
 
Christina Cleveland, Disunity in Christ:  Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart. (InterVarsity Press, 2013)

Mitchell and I made a commitment this year to keep Sabbath … a day set apart to reconnect with what is truly of value and importance … a day to live as God intended us to live and not tied to work, marketplace or consumerism.  We fail miserably at this!

I have wanted to do a blog for years … to get those consistent voices and ideas out of my head and into print … so people smarter than me can comment and reflect … or point out my misdirection.  So … here it goes.  Remember how bad I said Mitchell and I are at keeping Sabbath … so you will not have to endure these reflections regularly!

THE WHITE BOX

“The White Box” or “The White Cube” is a term some art historians and art theorists use to describe the modern art gallery and museum experience as a special place set apart to allow human beings to be in solitude with the art they have come to see, admire and be inspired by.  The design of the space … even the journey from the parking lot through the entry way … is purposely designed to transition the potential viewer from the chaos and distractions of the real world and into a world of aesthetic contemplation.   This model holds that the object we set apart has the power to transform human lives.

I have come to believe more and more that the white box/cube misses the mark and distorts the understanding of the ultimate purpose and power of art.  My faith tells me that our relationship and interactions with our world (natural and human) are our primary form of growth and transformation and change.  Transformation happens in the messiness of a life lived in relationship … even the chaos and distractions.  Likewise, great art emerges from a desire to visualize the human struggle to transform our world … a return to Sabbath if you will.

Any model for experiencing art that separates it from the real world experiences that actually inspired their creation builds a wall around the art object and obscures and truncates its work in the world.  By separating experience from both the object and the artistic process, the white box/cube is asking and expecting art to do something art cannot do by itself.  Art was not conceived in isolation (although the artist might need time alone to produce the work), so the way we view art should reflect the way in which it was conceived and brought into being.

Every time I go into local bistro Town Kitchen & Provisions (TKP)  I get the feeling that the way we view art … and celebrate art … needs to evolve.  At TKP folks experience art in the primary way that humanity forms a relationship, a family, and a community … at a meal!  Art becomes a conversation between friends … or the backdrop of a shared experience … or just the landscape of our life together.  The art and the artist becomes the server and not the sideshow … not unlike owners Melanie or Jared preparing and bringing the meal to the table.  The meaningfulness of the experience is not just rooted in an amazing sandwich like the “Miss Piggy” or the “Friar Cluck” … but in the relationship that is shared.

While many folks found them dark, I loved that Suzanne Paddock’s work, many depicting her dad’s final days, accompanied the opening of TKP … rooting a shared meal in a new place with the visual complexity of human life and death.  I love that local artisans display and sell work that folks actually take home and use.  I love the playfulness of Shelley Koopmann’s vignettes as they mimic life both inside and outside the bistro.  I love Carol Burnett’s primitive mixed media works that poke fun at small town life and relationships.  But most of all I love that art has become a backdrop for a place of hospitality, a shared meal and transformational conversations.  Art that is in relationship … not set apart.

This feels like art headed in the right direction.

Blessed Sabbath

- VPE

In August 2014, we have the privilege of jurying an curating and exhibit titled "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" at the Lynchburg Art Club.  The following is the statement we wrote from the show and a gallery of images.

CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL IN ART
Juror's Statement

For Wassily Kandinsky, the modernist movement was not only about liberating art from the strict confines of 19th and early 20th century social and aesthetic constructs, but he believed that this new movement in art could enable artists to be active conversation partners in larger societal questions.  In his 1912 treatise “Concerning the Spiritual in Art”, Kandinsky sought to awaken in each artist both their inner voice and their aesthetic intuition and focus art and artists on the tremendous changes occurring in human life and culture. Kandinsky recognized in this liminal period of human history profound

challenges to the way humanity understood themselves in relationship to industry, economics, politics, religion, science, and medicine … all areas of modern life that needed to be explored, challenged and even critiqued. 

Artists, Kandinsky believed, were uniquely qualified to be partners in the emergence of a truly modern world.  When he wrote, “the artist must have something to say, mastery over form is not the artistic goal, rather the use and adaption of forms to communicate or represent inner meaning,”  Kandinsky wanted to shift the focus of art from object to ideas.  He wanted to awaken in each artist their internal voice (inner necessity) and give both artists and their creations a place in the larger social dialogue.  Kandinsky’s idea not only transformed art, but also how artists understood their place in the world.  All art of any social or historical importance is spiritual.  Great art always connects the viewer to larger social questions, ideas or longings.

The works in this show are proof that Kandinsky’s ideas are alive and well a century later.  These works represent a wide range of inner voices and aesthetic intuitions; religious, philosophical, political and aesthetic.  The show also includes a rich cross section of skill and craftsmanship.  In the midst of this diversity, a common denominator that emerges is the desire of each artist to be a conversation partner with the world around them.

While we utilized Kandinsky’s ideas as a starting point, we also looked for art that spoke past the here and now toward a more universal expression.  Three distinct categories emerged as the entries were received for the jury process that ultimately resulted in this survey. 

Vision and Mystery:  This category includes works that are poetic or visionary.  In these works, there is an intentional juxtaposition of images or objects to create meaning or narrative.  Some works draw on traditional religious iconography while others draw on more personal stories or memories.

Journey and Place:  This category includes representational works that highlight the human figure or landscape.  In these works, the created world holds the key to eternal truths.  The healing power of nature or the rich complexity of human relationships becomes a way of seeing and understanding the world we inhabit.

Brokenness and Redemption:  This category includes works that are often difficult to view.  In these works there is a sense of “prophecy.”  Not so much looking into the future, but rather an intentionality to awaken the viewer to a destructive reality that is in the present moment.  In some works this narrative is redeemed. In others, the narrative remains painfully unanswered.

We were honored to be a part of this process … and are genuinely and deeply moved by the works in this exhibition. 

We're doing some catching up on things that have been happening over the last nine months.  In December, we gathered a group of artists to reflect on birth, death, faith, and the cost of discipleship in an exhibit called "25/26."  “25/26” references the two days in December that the Christian church celebrates the Birth of Christ (25th) and the death of Christianity’s first martyr, St. Stephen (26th).  Not only are these two celebrations filled with powerful imagery for the creative imagination, the juxtaposition of these two pivotal events represents common elements which all faiths and all peoples struggle to reconcile and understand.  On these two days the gift of salvation is set against the cost of that salvation … God’s work in the world is set against the world’s response to God’s love and care.

This expression (peace and all goodness) was a greeting St. Francis used when encountering a brother, a friend, or a foe.  It was his prayer for all humanity  For our inaugural exhibition, we asked artists to reflect on some aspect of Francis’ life and work (care for the poor, animals and the ecology, the simple lifestyle, poverty and humility or church reformer, etc.).  Much thanks to everyone who contributed!