SINGING & SELF
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Standing my ground (such as it is)
Snowman Sentinel, November 2020 (photographed in Kitchener, ON) I look for metaphors everywhere, seeking meaning, context. And this snowman spoke to me the other day. It seemed to represent everything and nothing at the same time. Some days I feel like him: a unique...
Direction unknown
A few weeks ago I saw this weathervane on the roof of a house at sunrise. It made me think of the number of times it feels like I have had to shift direction in the last eight months or so--just like everyone else. I've noticed how unsettling this all is, for me, for...
State of Play
Empty playground, November 12, 2020 "Playful" has been a keyword this week. As artists, accessing the playful, childlike centre in ourselves is crucial and too often ignored, particularly in these strange times. It doesn't feel "serious" to do such seemingly...
Home improvement
Abandoned dollhouse, October 2020 This dollhouse appeared about a month ago on garbage day on a street nearby. For whatever reason, it caught my eye. Was it the empty rooms, waiting to be filled? The half-painted walls that seemed to be looking for an upgrade? Was it...
Shining through the cracks
Morning Sunrise, October 2020 A new habit I've formed is to go for a morning walk, preferably as soon as I get up. At the moment, I sometimes even start before the sun comes up. I have taken to snapping photos of images that strike me on these walks, especially if...
Goddess of Small Things
Moss, lichen, ferns, seedlings, leaves, bark, pine needles: seen on the Bruce Peninsula (October 2020) I'm discovering the divine in the small things. Once I thought I needed to be grandiose, expansive, powerful and explosive in order to be heard and valued. These...
Ring the bells
My (im)perfect offering This week Leonard Cohen's Anthem has been resounding in my brain: "ring the bells that still can ring/forget your perfect offering/there's a crack, a crack in everything/that's how the light gets in". I've been ruminating on perfection...
Let beauty awake!
Early morning sumach turning colour Sept. 2020 "Let beauty awake", the title of one of the Songs of Travel by Ralph Vaughan Williams came to mind as I sat down to write... These days seem so full and there is so much to learn, to do, to adapt to. Where was beauty? As...
New seasons, new beginnings
This has been an exhausting, exhilarating, infuriating, exciting, exasperating and thrilling past two weeks. We started back at the university, completely remotely, and trying out all kinds of new ways of teaching and learning, with mixed but mostly good results....
Amplifying Other Voices
My new rhythm seems to be every two weeks now. I always think of writing every Thursday night, but some Thursdays it appears I am overwhelmed, distracted or just don't seem to find the space for this. But today's space belongs to other voices. Today was the second day...
All I need is the air that I breathe
Breathing the Air of Art: first post-COVID visit to the AGO, August 2020 Last week's post examined the idea of an artist's selfishness, and I've been thinking more about that since. The space we need to make art, to create, is largely a personal one, a sanctum....
So selfish
Apologies once again to my readers...somehow life seems to be interfering with my blogging discipline of late. I began this post last week and then promptly forgot. It's a topic I've been ruminating on for a bit, because I think it affects many artists. How often have...
All of me in the room
Many sides of me in the room (and I never said I was a photographer...) [Apologies for those of you who regularly read these posts...I somehow erred last week and didn't end up scheduling the publication of this post, so I will go ahead and share it this week, and...
Taking a vacation
Everybody needs a vacation. And this week I'm getting mine. So no deep thoughts, no meditations in public forums, nothing but rest and relaxation. As you read this, I'm at a cottage somewhere near Georgian Bay in Ontario, enjoying the company of my siblings, their...
