Redtree Times

The Steadying Light– Included in the Principle Gallery Show

Men’s lives are short.
The hard man and his cruelties will be
Cursed behind his back and mocked in death.
But one whose heart and ways are kind – of him
strangers will bear report to the whole wide world,
and distant men will praise him.

– Penelope in The Odyssey, Homer

Didn’t want to do my normal Memorial Day kind of post. No talk of patriotism, bravery, or self-sacrifice. No flag waving or glorification of war.

I guess that’s because as much as Memorial Day is about remembering our war dead, it is also about those folks who lost those soldiers– the parents, wives and husbands, children and friends of the fallen.

Those who remember. Those who memorialize. Those who had to go on with the hole left by the loss in their lives.

Some don’t even move on with their lives, remaining caught up in that moment of loss. The Penelopes of the world, waiting eternally for their Ulysses to return. However, in the case Penelope, her mythic hero ultimately returned. Most others were not so fortunate.

That aspect, the idea of the waiting Penelope, has often shown up in my work. I often think of my Red Tree, especially those perched on a mound on the shore beside an endless watery horizon, patiently witnessing the recurring dusks and dawns of many days as they wait for some sort of release from their vigil of loss.

Each new light of dawn renews their hope and each fading dusk dashes it.

Great loss has that effect. I know that when I visit the national cemetery where my parents and grandparents are buried and walk among the stones memorializing the many dead soldiers, I find myself thinking as much about the people who these soldiers left behind, those who hold their memory dear and feel the loss in their passing.

The people who carry memory forward. May they find some steadying light.

The Steadying Light is a 12″ by 24″ canvas that is part of my 23rd annual solo exhibit at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA. The work is now in the gallery and the show opens Friday, June 3, 2022.