Palm Sunday 2024, at Monica Park

Kelly Driver lighting a candle before the service

Today is Palm Sunday, leading into Holy Week. I’ve been attending Monica Park Christian Church in Garland, while the Encounter Gallery paintings are installed. I place the paintings on the easel at the front before the service so it is easy to move it closer to the center before the Pastor starts the sermon.

Earlier this morning I noticed Kelly lighting a candle next to the painting “Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross”. I liked this visual and Kelly agreed to a picture. This practice is not something we do in my tradition, so I also asked her why she lit the candle this morning. Kelly said “My BFF had a 5 bypass heart surgery last May, and a couple of weeks ago she had a defibrillator put in. I light it to help me put focus on my prayers.”

I am often reminded how easy it is to wander mentally while praying. Holding the lighter, and touching it to the wick takes some concentration and allows for a moment to focus. I appreciate the beauty, effort, and effect of this practice. 

Encounter Gallery at Northwest Bible Church

Discussing the self-portrait “Man Born Blind” with Robert Virkus.

The Encounter Gallery is showing through December 2019, in the Christian Life Center at Northwest Bible Church in Dallas. We had a Sunday Morning opening a couple of weeks ago and lots of folks stopped by to look and chat between and after the services. I met Robert Virkus and we had an interesting conversation about the art work and some of our favorite artists. Above is the installation on the south wall.

The North Wall installation of the Encounter Gallery

The church is usually open during the day and they often have extended hours. But I recommend calling ahead to make sure the Christian Life Center is unlocked and available for viewing.

Northwest Bible Church
Christian Life Center
8505 Douglas Avenue
Dallas, TX 75225
469-453-7777

Cerealism Collage

Ceralism collage

There’s something reassuring when working with scissors and glue. Not only familiar, but also easy and fun. For me, there are fewer pretentious thoughts to making great art and lots more smiling and fun. It never fails when we’ve set up an art-making night that everyone gets busy and I just stare at whatever materials we’ve collected and all my great ideas just fly away, It feels like the everyone else is moving on and doing their thing and I am completely out of ideas.

More ceralism.

Most of the materials we were using were from cereal boxes saved for this purpose over the last few months due to our recent collage experience with Michael Albert. The colors and font designs are fantastic and probably the results of millions of dollars of advertising campaigns. The cost is basically nothing, and it’s keeping some packaging from going straight to the dump. Ok, so it’s just a little bit of packaging that we’re temporarily keeping from the garbage, but it’s a good feeling to recycle even a little bit. It’s especially a good feeling to make something fun and use basically no money at all in it.

Lurking Desire

Here’s what I finally came up with. It’s a sort of psychological portrait of a small part of our marriage. It’s also using what was available and not being fussy about it. The pepperoni pizza bird on the left is me, the popcorn bird is she. It would have been more accurate if my bird had been made of fried chicken, but a suitable pic was not available. The popcorn bird is entirely accurate. My lovely wife loves popcorn. It’s the go-to snack while amazon prime binging.

Intense discussion

I love this picture. It’s a bit out of order. We almost always eat, and talk, and pray together before the art-making. The spot on the couch by Phil is occupied by Wendy who is right there skyped in on Melissa’s cell phone which was pretty cool. The conversation that I remember most about this evening is the idea that we have to keep taking risks and focusing on truly important things. Whether it’s with new art-making ideas, new relationships, or more time spent praying, reading, and applying scripture to our lives. Someone said that we need to rid ourselves of those time-consuming activities with which we are pre-occupied and move forward with the vital things. And stop worrying about whether or not we and they will be accepted.

Twisting Trees with Mac Browning

Terri, Norma, Sara, and Melissa twisting away.

At Art and Faith in July, Mac Browning showed us how to take a loop of wire and sculpt a twisted-wire tree. I’ve admired Mac’s beautiful trees many times and it was very interesting to get a feel for what goes into one of his creations by trying to make my own. Mac was thorough and patient and getting started was easy. However, the wire twisting itself was not easy. It takes a combination of strength and dexterity to get what you want. It always gives me a great appreciation for what another artist does when I try a new technique for the first time.

Tom, Melinda, Sara, Melissa, and Norma focusing on the work.

Sometimes making art requires intense thought. When I’m painting a portrait, I have to concentrate completely. If I zone out and begin thinking about something else, I make color, value, and composition choices that just don’t make sense and have to be re-worked and fixed and it wastes a ton of time. It’s happened many times. It’s nice to have something that is not quite like that. Maybe Mac has to concentrate and not lose focus to make his trees, but for me, it was nice to work on something and carry on a conversation at the same time.

Mac showing how it’s done. Sara and Melissa contemplate the next move.

Art & Faith is on the 2nd Saturday of the month. We eat, we pray, we make art.

Disciples Serve

Disciples Serve the Five Thousand
Oil on canvas
24″ x 18″

This is my latest work in the Encounter Gallery series entitled “Disciples Serve the Five Thousand”.  I was talking with my friend Takiyah about my narrative portraits and that I had started out painting almost exclusively my own family members, mostly because they were willing. I said that as I looked back over my paintings, it occurred to me that my family was awfully white. Takiyah laughed and said “well, my family is awfully black!”  I asked her if there was a gospel story that she most identified with and characterized her and her history.  She said that the one that most often came to mind was the feeding of the 5,000.  She told me about growing up fairly poor in the Los Angeles area, but definitely not realizing that they were poor.  She recounted a few of the numerous times that her family was unexpectedly confronted with the Lord’s abundance.  This idea of abundance is central to Takiyah’s experience of God in her life.  He has supplied her and her family’s needs abundantly and continually.  There were powerful stories from her childhood in which her family was blessed with abundance that could only have come from God.  As I listened to her stories, I thought of my own history.  My father had a good job, and worked steadily throughout my childhood.  I never really questioned or wondered where the groceries came from.  I realized early on that Dad was paid regularly, and the money went into the bank, and that was how we bought the groceries.  I knew then that God provides, even in this way.  But Mom and Dad were very frugal, and I never really got a sense of abundance or unexpectedness.  Our abundance was more a sense of “enough” and “steady” for which I’m very grateful. This very consistency was and is a gift from my Dad.  The groceries always got bought, so that meant that Dad was working, and God was providing both. 

But Takiyah’s experience was different and in its own way glorious.  God has continued to provide for her in an abundant and sometimes an unexpected way. 

While meditating on the story of the 5,000, I began to think about how much labor it would have taken to distribute a dinner of fish and bread to so many men, women and children.  Thousands of meals delivered across a hillside next to the lake would have taken so much effort.  I imagined that as Jesus multiplied the fish and bread, his disciples saw what was happening and quickly realized what it would take to serve this crowd.  They loaded up with plates of the newly created meals and went throughout the crowd, handing out delicious food to everyone who was there.  I set the scene on the northeast shore of White Rock Lake with the skyline of Dallas just barely visible in the distance.  I pictured the disciples as seasoned diner waiters and waitresses with arms full of plates of baked fish and rolls headed up the hill to the people.  This was a day of extraordinary and unexpected abundance, and Jesus’ many followers and disciples were there to serve.  It is the perfect story of Takiyah’s experience with the unexpected abundance from God.

“Disciples Serve the Five Thousand” is currently on display with the Encounter Gallery series at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Watson Hall (in Dallas) until August 22, 2019. 

24 Feet Installed at St. Cecelia’s

24 Feet
Oil on Canvas
16″ x 120″

24 Feet is installed in the sanctuary of Saint Cecelia’s Catholic Church through Pentecost (Sunday, June 9). Father Moreno asked that we install it in the sanctuary over the exit door so that the congregation will see it as they leave the service. It took quite a bit of expert maneuvering of the hydraulic lift. My friend Robert and I held and attached the painting, while Alberto ran the lift. It turned out to be a stunning place to hang this painting.

St. Cecelia’s Catholic Church at 1809 W. Davis Street in Oak Cliff is a new church building in an established parish. The older church was hit by lightning in 2007 and burned. This beautiful and spacious new church was then built and dedicated in 2011.

Reduction Printing

Rolling the ink.

I had been threatening to do a printmaking demo for Art & Faith and finally decided to follow-through. I’ve recently met 2 printmakers who specialize in reduction prints and they have been especially encouraging. Angie Coleman of Taos, NM has a wonderful gallery at 117A Kit Carson Street. She was busy pulling prints a few weeks back in late February when I stopped in but took a few minutes to answer some questions. More of Angie’s work at AngieColemanFineArts.com. Back in October, Terri and I visited Portsmouth NH on our recent visit to New England to take in the wonderful fall foliage. We happened upon the studio gallery of Don Gorvett’s Piscataqua Fine Arts Studio and Gallery. Don was out of town, but Alex deConstant showed us around. More at DonGorvettGallery.com.

This inspired me to take the plunge in reduction printmaking and so with after lots of questions and tutorials from Angie and Don, I got started.

Pulling the print (color #3).

The plan for this linocut print is 8 different colors and I demo’d color #3. The subject matter is a great little adobe church in Talpa, NM (near Taos) called San Juan de los Lagos . When I arrived, I was immediately met by a greeting party of 3 very serious and worried dogs. I put on my best serious face and tried to ignore them. One of them graciously agreed to set himself up on the side ledge of the church and is in all my pictures, so the plan is to include him in the final work.

I pulled 3 prints at the demo and finished the rest when I got home. The full run is currently at 24 prints.

Reduction print, Color #3, first 3 prints.

Thanks to Wendee Van Order for taking the great pics.

The Texture of Light

Artists at play. Sara, Denise, Wendee, Robert, Rebecca and Lindy. (Cr. Russ Reed 2019)

Art & Faith met Saturday evening and as usual shared a wonderful meal and caught up on recent life events.  We also discussed the meaning of Jesus’ scribbling in the sand and response to the woman caught in adultery and we prayed together.

Denise Hohulin gave a wonderful and unique photographic presentation on The Texture of Light.  She passed around a number of photos that were so interesting. I had been looking forward for some time to see how she set these up.  Denise only uses a few hand held lamps, or an open window to let in the sun for the light source. Then she uses a number of glass vases, champagne glasses, bowls and other objects to get these shots.  She showed us how to manipulate the light source and the glass vessels to achieve some remarkable patterns and textured surfaces layered on textured surfaces. .

The Texture of Light by Denise Hohulin

It was interesting to see how the smallest, most infinitesimal movement in the glass led to completely different and unexpected patterns. We played around and came up with some novel approaches to creating textured shadows on surfaces and walls. It was also fun to imagine an exhibition of light, darkness and shadows and what might be required to make it work. Most of all we gained a bit of insight into Denise’s creative mindset and catch up with her latest work.

Textured light patterns (cr. Rebecca Prince 2019)

JFK and the Speech Not Delivered

Inside the JFK Presidential Library and Museum (R.Reed 2018)

Terri and I were recently in New England, mainly to see the fall foliage but also to visit some lovely towns and great art museums. My mom and dad flew up later and we focused on the Boston area. We had a great time and some fantastic meals (the best ones were made by Terri!)

On a whim we decided to visit the JFK Library which turned out to be one of the unexpected highlights of our trip. It was so refreshing to watch and listen to recordings of his political speeches and to read his words. They revealed a president who not only knew the language at a very high level, but was able to use it to impart an inspiring vision for the country.

One of the best moments came while reading his notecards for the speech he never delivered, but intended to give in Dallas at Market Hall. Here are the last few lines of that speech, taken directly from his note cards.

We in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than choice – the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility — that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint — and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of ‘peace on earth, good will toward men.’  That must always be our goal — and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. 

For as was written long ago ‘except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.’

— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

 

 

At the UTA Hotshop

 Jon at the furnace.

Art & Faith was at the UTA Glassblowing Hotshop last Saturday evening. We received a very special invitation to watch Jon Reed and friends do what they do with hot glass.  They stretched, formed, textured, blew, shaped, and reheated their glass countless times. The results were 3 gorgeous vessel created from initial blobs of molten glass.  

Watching glass blowers is better than a movie.  It’s a live performance with suspense, plot, drama, choreography, and great characterization. The final reveal can be shocking. We were privileged to watch 3 artists at different stages in their craft form and blow glass.  When one artist was on point, the other two were busy helping behind the scenes with numerous tasks. I’ve watched videos of glassblowing before but did not appreciate the many activities that were happening “off-screen” which were vital to the success of the project.  It is definitely a team sport.

Then we enjoyed some excellent pizza at Old School Pizza and Suds which is its own form of team sport.

Thanks to Emily Reed for these great pics.

The actual blowing of glass.

The final form.