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Find the River

December 1, 2024 by redtreetimes

GC Myers-- Follow the River sm

Follow the River— At Principle Gallery

Me, my thoughts are flower strewn
With ocean storm, bayberry moon
I have got to leave to find my way
Watch the road and memorize
This life that pass before my eyes
And nothing is going my way
The ocean is the river’s goal
A need to leave the water knows
We’re closer now than light years to go

–R.E.M., Find the River, 1992

Sunday morning. Cold and dark. Tired. Maybe that’s the wrong word. More like fatigued, if there is any actual difference. Just feel all out of rhythm in a lot of ways. One of those periods where everything mechanical or electronic that I touch seems to react erratically to me. Just inserting the verse above from the R.E.M. song that I am going to pay for this week’s Sunday Morning Music took about fifteen minutes as the site would freeze up and then wouldn’t format properly.

The fatigue, the frustration, the lack of rhythm– it all builds up and you feel as though you’ve strayed off your path a bit. A little disoriented and feeling somewhat lost. You look for something that gets you back on that path, some landmark or something you can follow that you know will cross your intended path somewhere down the line. Maybe a stream or river.

Something that moves, flows. Something with a rhythm. It might not be yours but maybe it will lead you to yours once again.

I’ve followed it before and found my way back. Many times. It gets harder as I age, as though the wear and tear of this process of recovering my path saps a little more each time. But even as I feel a bit more tired and achy, just knowing the drill, understanding that there is a way through, is sustaining.

So, I tell myself that today is the day I break through, the day I put my feet back on that path from which I had strayed. And maybe today really is the day in which I am not deceiving myself again.

I hope so.

I know that if it is the day, this funk will dissipate in a poof! and even the memory of it will quickly fade. One of the benefits of having experienced this before is that there’s a mechanism that washes away much of the memory of being lost. Oh, I remember but, having found the river once again, its flow has quickly carried me far downstream away from it. It remains in the rearview.

Give a listen to R.E.M. and their song Find the River from their 1992 album Automatic for the People.

Me? I have to run. I just know that that river is just ahead for me. Let yourself out, okay?

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In Dreams/ Small Business Saturday

November 30, 2024 by redtreetimes

small-business-saturday 2024

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.

–-John Updike, Self-Consciousness: Memoirs (1989)

I ran this post last year on Small Business Saturday. It’s an echo of yesterday’s post, urging people to support local businesses, craftspeople, and artists. I thought this particular post made a reasonable case for supporting local artists and businesses as well as for people pursuing their dreams. The only change has been the song at the end. Please give a read and a listen and if you’re out and about, remember to support those businesses and artists in your area.

[From 2023]

It’s another Small Business Saturday, that Saturday after Thanksgiving when people are urged to go out into their communities and shop in locally owned small businesses. It’s one of the best ways to keep your local community vibrant and alive. The money spent for the most part stays local and multiplies many times as it radiates out into the community.

It can be a huge economic engine for the small businesspeople in your local area.

But it is also something more– it is the sustaining lifeblood for a multitude of dreams. Every local small business represents the fulfillment of a dream of someone in your area. It required that someone believed in an idea or ability that they possessed and then risked something– often everything– in putting themselves out there in front of their friends and neighbors.

It can be a gigantic gamble where failure can sometimes mean financial ruin, public humiliation, and lifelong dreams being forever crushed.

But you can look at that risk as the only chance you might get at following your dreams. A chance to finally be the person you once imagined yourself being. Even the humblest small business is the realization of a dream for someone.

And anyone’s dream is a big deal, in my opinion.

I am an artist and a small businessperson, as is every working artist and artisan. We don’t like to talk about it as a business, of course, but after the making of the art it is that thing that keeps our dreams alive. Our dreams and our livelihoods depend on people dealing with us or the local shops and galleries that carry our work– all small businesses.

Small but consequential.

Every gallery I work with provides income for at least 50-80 artists and artisans. That’s 50-80 dreams fulfilled in each gallery.

And, again, that’s a big deal.

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have my dream kept alive for the past 28 or so years. And I have those dream-enablers at the galleries that represent me as well as the many of you out there who have supported my work to thank for that. As much as I might like to think I achieved anything on my own, my dream has been dependent on so many people.

Like anyone with a dream of following their passion, it has meant the world to me. I would love to see many others achieve their own unique dreams in the same way.

So, help them out if you can. I am not asking you to buy locally as a charitable act. View it as more of an investment in your neighbors and your community and an act of humanity in that you are feeding someone’s dream. Whatever you might purchase from a small local business — be it a painting, a cup of coffee, a piece of clothing or pottery, a cupcake, or any of the many things made and sold in your area–is your first dividend on that investment. It is money well spent.

And to those of you out there with a dream who have yet to find the nerve to take the leap, I urge you to follow your dreams. Sure, it might be hard. And sure, you might fall on your face. That’s a given. But keep in mind that there is always the possibility of achieving your dream only if you take that leap.

You don’t want to be one of those people who go through life saying, “What if?” At least if you fail, you have the chance to chase another dream.

Here’s a song from the late Roy Orbison. He’s backed here by an all-star band as he performs In Dreams.

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Feed a Dream

November 29, 2024 by redtreetimes

GCMyers- Boxed In 2019

Boxed In, 2019

The crowd, still shouting, gives way before us. We plough our way through. Women hold their aprons over their faces and go stumbling away. A roar of fury goes up. A wounded man is being carried off.

–Erich Maria Remarque, The Road Back (1931)

You might think these lines from the sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque are describing a scene from World War I or its aftermath. Actually, it’s just a retelling of past Black Fridays at any Walmart around the country. American carnage, indeed.

It’s been many, many years since I ventured out into the throngs of bargain seekers on this Friday after Thanksgiving and I don’t plan on changing that pattern today. Hey, it might not even be as bad as it once was since there is so much more online shopping. But I am not going to find out.

If you have to tempt fate and fight the crowds, I urge you to make an art gallery one of your stops. For one reason, the art there will calm you down, put things into perspective. For another, art is a wonderful gift for someone you love. And it makes an even better gift to yourself.

The last reason is that buying art supports the truly small local businesses meaning that the money from that purchase stays predominantly in that area, recirculating and helping other local businesses many times over.

Doing so makes your local small business community stronger and more responsive to your wants and needs. Plus, it supports artists who depend on every single sale in order to maintain their sometimes tenuous livelihoods.

Not only is it a unique item that comes from their hands and hearts, but it is also something that keeps their dreams alive.

It’s a rare thing that buying art does; sustaining the dreams and souls of others while obtaining a work that feeds your own.

So, instead of battling crowds, avoid the mad rush and head to a local gallery. Feed a dream– the artist’s and your own.

Here’s a favorite composition of mine from Philip Glass, Mad Rush. It was written for the Dalai Lama‘s first North American address back in 1979. Written originally for organ– it was written on the organ at the Saint John the Divine Cathedral in NY– it was meant to be an open-ended piece that could be shortened or extended without the audience noticing to accommodate the vague timetable of the Dalai Lama’s scheduled appearance. It has been recognized over the years as an iconic piece of modern music. Glass performs it here in Montreal from 2015. I like this performance, finding it very meditative as I watch his hands on the keyboard. The antithesis to the combat of shopping.

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Giving Thanks, Once Again

November 28, 2024 by redtreetimes

thanksgiving pooh

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Remember that even the tiniest of hearts has an infinite amount of room for gratitude.

And love.

And compassion.

Wishing you all a peaceful and quiet Thanksgiving Day…

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In One Vast Thanksgiving…

November 27, 2024 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- All the World's a Stage 2024

All the World’s a Stage – At West End Gallery

I can pass days
Stretch’d in the shade of those old cedar trees,
Watching the sunshine like a blessing fall,–
The breeze like music wandering o’er the boughs,
Each tree a natural harp,–each different leaf
A different note, blent in one vast thanksgiving.

–Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838)

Day before Thanksgiving, that single day we set aside to express our gratitude. One day doesn’t seem enough, does it?

The verse above says it all. Just lazing in the woods, taking in the sights and sounds of the beauty and grace that surrounds us always, makes that one day seem woefully insufficient. 

I guess it comes down to us– as does everything, actually– to spread our thanks more broadly throughout the year.

That’s it. That’s today’s message. Be thankful I didn’t go on and on. Now go out and spend some time with some trees.

FYI:   Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet and novelist who was a great influence on the generation of writers that followed her. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, Robert Browning, and Tennyson are noted as being influenced by her. In her time, Landon was sometimes referred to as the female Byron. Her story is interesting and tragic, but I am not going to go into here in great detail except to say that she was forgotten or overlooked for many decades due to the misinformation and rumors of immorality that were leveled at her.

Here’s a song for this morning that goes somewhat with the subject of appreciating the bou nty of nature. It’s a favorite of mine, Nature Boy. I’ve shared the story of this song and the man who wrote and originally performed it, eden ahbez, several times here in the past. Another interesting story. If you know this song it is probably from the magical version of Nat King Cole. Certainly my favorite. But today I am sharing a performance from from the Swedish a cappella group, The Real Group. I shaed it here a couple of years back and really love the way their voices blend on this gracefully simple song.

 

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Virtues of Delight

November 26, 2024 by redtreetimes

Natural Anthem sm

Natural Anthem– At Principle Gallery, Alexandria VA

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.

–William Blake, Songs of Innocence (1789–1790)

Speaking of thankfulness in this week of thanks, I might add silence or quietude to those virtues of delight that Blake listed above, though that probably falls under his definition of Peace. I know that I am always thankful when I am gifted with silence or quiet when I am in the midst of some sort of distress. It stills the waters, in a manner of speaking.

There are others that I might add, as well. Understanding and compassion for example. Again, you might classify them under Blake’s Mercy and Love, respectively.

I guess it doesn’t matter how you classify them. Receiving any of these virtues of delight are gifts of the highest order, gifts of the soul that inspire thankfulness in most of us. Unfortunately, there are some who don’t recognize these gifts when given and are stingy in offering these gifts to others. I feel bad in a way for such people. There seems to be an incompleteness to them, a void of virtues that should be filled with gratitude. As the Roman orator Cicero stated: Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all of the others.

Anyway, that’s my spiel for this morning. Thank you for reading.

Here’s a piece of music for which I am very much thankful. It’s the first movement, Ludus: Con moto, from Tabula Rasa. a 1977 work from Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.  I picked up this album back in 1999 and listened to it over and over during my early years as a full-time painter. The feel of this music and its themes of love, empty space, and silence seemed to fit well with my work at that time. Hope it still does. This features violinist Gil Shaham along with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Still hits me hard. And I am thankful for that…

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Etty Hillesum/ Gratitude

November 25, 2024 by redtreetimes

Etty Hillesum Book CoverAs life becomes harder and more threatening, it also becomes richer, because the fewer expectations we have, the more good things of life become unexpected gifts that we accept with gratitude.

–Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943

I was looking for something to share about gratitude since this is the week of Thanksgiving. I came across the quote above from a name that I didn’t recognize, Etty Hillesum. I loved the sentiment she expressed but wondered who she was.

Turns out she was young Dutch Jewish woman born in 1914 who chronicled her spiritual growth in her diaries and letters until her murder at the hands of the Nazis in the Auschwitz concentration camp in late November of 1943. She was only 29 years old, a mere 81 years ago.

Her writings had been turned over to a friend before her internment so that they might someday be published. Though many attempts were made, it wasn’t until 1979 that they finally found their way into print as the book An Interrupted Life. In 2006, the Etty Hillesum Research Centre was founded in the Dutch city of Ghent to research and promote her writings.

As I pointed out, Etty Hillesum is new to me so I can’t speak with any authority on her writings. However, many of the passages I have read exhibit great depth. Some of my favorites thus far:

Suffering has always been with us, does it really matter in what form it comes? All that matters is how we bear it and how we fit it into our lives.

But I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply moulding one’s inner life. And that too is a deed.

Never give up, never escape, take everything in, and perhaps suffer, that’s not too awful either, but never, never give up.

Many of her observations, especially about how suffering plays a large role in one’s meaning of life, echo those of Viktor Frankl, a psychoanalyst and survivor of Auschwitz who wrote Man’s Search for Meaning. And that second one here, about the creation of an inner life adding to the meaning of one’s life, is something I believe all too many of us overlook in our own lives.

Inner creation is as important as any outward creation. Maybe more so.

Anyway, let’s kick off this week of being grateful with a nod of gratitude to Etty Hillesum for sharing the wisdom she uncovered in her brief stay here. Her life’s search for meaning adds to our own.

And that is indeed a great gift.

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What’s Going On

November 24, 2024 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- And the River Flows 2024

And the River Flows– At the West End Gallery

Our American character is marked by a more than average delight in accurate perception, which is shown by the currency of the byword, “No mistake.” But the discomfort of unpunctuality, of confusion of thought about facts, of inattention to the wants of to-morrow, is of no nation. The beautiful laws of time and space, once dislocated by our inaptitude, are holes and dens. If the hive be disturbed by rash and stupid hands, instead of honey, it will yield us bees.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prudence (1841)

Just going to share the words of Emerson, the image of a recent painting, and a song that will serve as this week’s Sunday Morning Music. It’s a song that I was surprised to learn was last shared here over ten years ago. I always think that I just recently shared it. Maybe because it so often feels appropriate to the time.

The song is What’s Going On from Marvin Gaye. It is from his 1971 album of the same title that is considered by many as one of the greatest albums of all time. This is a poignant and elegant song of protest that was written by a member of The Four Tops, Renaldo “Obie” Benson, who witnessed a violent confrontation between police and anti-war protesters in Berkeley in April of 1969, while on the band’s tour bus. He couldn’t understand what he was seeing, why the police were brutally beating on those kids, kids much like those being sent every day to fight in Viet Nam. It made no sense to him, and he ended up writing this song based on what he witnessed with Motown songwriter Al Cleveland.

His bandmates vetoed recording the song, saying that they didn’t want to record a protest song. Benson later spoke of his response, saying, “My partners told me it was a protest song. I said ‘No, man, it’s a love song, about love and understanding. I’m not protesting. I want to know what’s going on.’“

It’s a great song, mixing great emotional impact with a cool, rational detachment that seeks a calm response to the question, “Why?”

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Child of the Sun

November 23, 2024 by redtreetimes

GC Myers -Proclaim the Day 2024

Proclaim the Day— At the West End Gallery

By health I mean the power to live a full, adult, living, breathing life in close contact with what I love — the earth and the wonders thereof — the sea — the sun. All that we mean when we speak of the external world. A want to enter into it, to be part of it, to live in it, to learn from it, to lose all that is superficial and acquired in me and to become a conscious direct human being. I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming so that I may be (and here I have stopped and waited and waited and it’s no good — there’s only one phrase that will do) a child of the sun. About helping others, about carrying a light and so on, it seems false to say a single word. Let it be at that. A child of the sun.

—Katherine Mansfield (1888- 9 January 1923)

October, 1922, Her final journal entry

About ten years back, I came across this final journal entry from the Modernist writer Katherine Mansfield, who died much too early from tuberculosis at age 35, and employed it for a painting called Proclamation. The feel of that painting very much mirrors that of the painting above, Proclaim the Day, which is at the West End Gallery as part of their Deck the Walls show which opened yesterday. The sense I get from both paintings remind me very much of the emotions expressed by Mansfield.

This is a painting that speaks to me of having come to an understanding of oneself, to be willing to stand strong against the prevailing winds in order to show that true identity. It is at once strong yet fragile, flawed yet beautiful. A strength derived from the challenges it had overcome and a fragility in that it recognizes its limits and mortality. Flawed by the scars of attained wisdom and change. Beautiful because it is honest and authentic, open to the elements and all who look upon it.

In these ways, it has become a source of light in its own right or, to use Mansfield’s term, a child of the sun.

 A child of the sun.

If only we could all see ourselves in that way.

Here’s a song I shared a couple of years back. It often comes back to me in a haunting kind of way. It’s a remake from horn player Takuya Kuroda of the 1976 song, Everybody Loves the Sunshine, from jazz artist Roy Ayers. The original is great, but I personally prefer Kuroda’s remake.  Has more of that child of the sun feel in my opinion. But, hey, that’s just me…

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Someday Somehow

November 22, 2024 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- Someway Somehow

Someway Somehow — At West End Gallery

…Perhaps
The truth depends on a walk around a lake, A composing as the body tires, a stop
To see hepatica, a stop to watch
A definition growing certain and A wait within that certainty, a rest
In the swags of pine-trees bordering the lake.
Perhaps there are times of inherent excellence

–Wallace Stevens, Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942)

This new small painting, Someway Somehow, now showing at the West End Gallery as part of their Deck the Walls holiday exhibit, might well represent finding beauty and color amidst the ashes of the everyday. Much like the lines from Wallace Stevens above.

For me, it has the feel of dreaming for me. Maybe it would be better to say dreams set against reality.

Maybe that’s the same thing as what I derived from Stevens’ lines. Not sure this morning.

The lower part of the image is in tones of gray that symbolize the sometimes grayness and monotony of our everyday existence, that workaday part of our lives when we set aside our hopes and dreams to focus on tasks and responsibilities. The upper part is set in colors that represent for me the rare times we find in order to return to those hopes and dreams.

We often find ourselves living in that area that straddles both gray and color, with the hope that we can find a way to live in the color of our dreams. Getting to that place is sometimes a hard road to follow and too many people give up early on. But those who continue do so withe thought echoing in their mind that someday somehow they will reach that place.

The dream of the dream.

Here’s a tune to go along with it. It’s Follow That Dream from Bruce Springsteen. It’s often referred to as a cover of the Elvis Presley song from his 1962 movie of the same name. Springsteen has often referred to the Elvis song as a favorite and covered it a number of times in early concerts.  I had a bootleg version of his cover that I can’t locate much to my dismay as it was a wonderful performance. The version of Follow My Dream from Springsteen that people might know is a reinvention of the song with altered melody, pace, and lyrics that he began performing in the early 1980’s. Not really the same song except for a few lines and its message.

But still effective. I think it fits well with this painting.

As I noted above, Someway Somehow is at the Deck the Walls show at the West End Gallery that opens today, Friday, November 22, with an opening reception that runs from 5-7 PM.

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