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Posts Tagged ‘Rhiannon Giddens’

Know your history. Know your mind. Speak up. Be loud.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on March 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

And then they stole our solace
(I can’t cry no more)
And then they stole our peace
(I can’t cry no more)
With countless acts of malice
(I can’t cry no more)
And hatred without cease
(I can’t cry no more)

—Cry No More, Rhiannon Giddens

I have been painting intently for my annual June solo show at the Principle Gallery. The title for this year’s show, which opens June 13, is Entanglement. I am not ready to start sharing the details or work from this show yet except to say that it is providing the excitement I need to get me through the current state of this country and the world in general. I can’t completely turn off the sound and fury of the outer world nor my reactions to it. With what is taking place, to not have a reaction is unnatural.

I am not going to list or go into details of the atrocities that make me want to scream. There are too many in the firehose of horror with which we are being soaked. Just one or two of these would have people up in arms in normal times.

But these are not normal times. And unusual times require unusual effort.

I wanted to share a video and song that speaks to it in a way.

It is from one of my favorites, the talented Rhiannon Giddens, who studied opera at the Oberlin Conservatory and has become a force in Folk/ Americana/ World Music. The song, Cry No More, was written by Giddens in the aftermath of the 2015 Charleston, SC church shooting in which 9 church members were murdered. It’s probably hard to remember. There have been so many mass shootings in the years since that we barely notice anymore, to our great shame, when only 3 or 4 or 5 people are killed let alone a shooting from ten years back. 

The words at the top appear in a frame at the end of the video. These words and the lyrics of the song serve as a powerful reminder that we get what we put up with and that to be silent is to accept this status quo. 

All the tears in the world accomplish nothing unless they are followed with a powerful and unified voice.

So, cry no more.

Know your history. Know your mind. Speak up. Be loud.

I am sharing two versions of the song. The first is the original, shot in a Greensboro, NC church. It is spare and powerful with only her hand drum– an Irish bodhran— as accompaniment. The second is a zoom session from the pandemic year of 2020. More accompaniment and layered but maintaining its full power.

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The Pursuit

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Philosophy, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on July 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- The Pursuit 2021

“The Pursuit“- Now at the West End Gallery

So sweet is the torment
That fills my heart
I can gladly live
With her cruel beauty.
In beauty’s heaven
Vanity increases
And pity gets lost;
But always my faith
Will be a rock against
The wave of pride.

—Si dolce è’l tormento by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

So sweet is the torment…

On the surface in the song from Monteverdi whose first verse’s translation is above, Si dolce è’l tormento (So Sweet Is the Torment), you might think that the torment the singer is expressing is from romantic pursuit alone. And it may be.

But I think it expresses the torment that drives any of us in pursuit of those things that we find meaningful. It could be anything, whatever it is that spurs you forward to search further and further. It might be love or knowledge or fame and fortune.

Anything that gives purpose to your pursuit.

Well, maybe anything but happiness. A lot of us say happiness is what we most desire and there’s nothing wrong with that on its face. Who doesn’t want happiness? But happiness is not an endpoint in itself. It is a byproduct of other things– love, acceptance, respect, and contentment for examples. I am sure you can add many other things to this list that create happiness in you.

But seeking happiness itself is a futile effort, one bound to torment you all your days. It would like existing in a frozen world and pursuing only heat when what you  should be seeking is a means to build a fire to produce the desired heat.

I don’t know what the sailor in the painting at the top is pursuing. I expect it is the light that comes from new knowledge and wisdom but that’s just my own projection into the piece. You might see the subject of the pursuit here in your own light.

As it should be.

Here’s beautiful new performance of the aforementioned Monteverdi piece from one of my favorites, Rhiannon Giddens. Good luck in your pursuits this week.

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Waterbound

Posted in Music, tagged , , , on April 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Deluge

There’s a lot to be done here in the studio this morning. I was under the weather from my second dose of the covid vaccine didn’t get much done yesterday. It wasn’t anything severe, just a general tiredness and a lousy achy feeling that was just enough to keep me from wanting to dig deep into my work.

And I find that if I am off enough that I am not able to fully commit, the work never seems to go anywhere. I end up spinning my wheels, ultimately ending up feeling frustrated and maybe even a little angry on top of feeling physically ill.

Time has taught me that it’s better to just ride it out and start fresh the next day.

And here we are. I feel good now, even refreshed, and eager to get at it. But since it’s Sunday morning, let me share a piece of new music from a favorite of mine, Rhiannon Giddens in collaboration with her partner Francesco Turrisi. The song is Waterbound.

The song reminds me of the painting at the top from a number of years back, Deluge. I am working on a piece that is similar in theme but am not ready to show it yet so Deluge will have to fill the bill this morning.

Off to work for me now, folks. Feels good to feel good again.

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Calling Me Home

Posted in Biographical, Favorite Things, Music, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on February 17, 2021| 1 Comment »

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.

It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”

― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

I recently finished this small piece shown above, a little guy that’s only 2″ by 4″ on paper. I wasn’t — and am not yet– exactly sure what meaning it holds for me, what message, if any, it carries. It certainly felt like it had something to offer.

It might be small but it seemed like it was speaking with a much larger voice. I was mulling this over this morning when I heard a new song, Calling Me Home, from one of my big favorites, Rhiannon Giddens. It’s from a new album coming out in April. There’s a line in the song that immediately struck me:

Remember my stories, remember my songs/ I leave them on earth, sweet traces of gold

It made me think of that existential question: What is it we leave behind?

That immediately brought to mind a favorite excerpt, shown at the top, from Ray Bradbury in his sci-fi/ dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451. It’s those things to which we devote or full effort, our mind and time, that have lasting effect. Often, things that are done with no real expectation of anyone recognizing your thought or effort in doing them.

It makes me think of my pond. I can see its top now in the winter since the leaves have fallen from the trees. I built it back in the summer of 1998 during a week spent pounding the hard pan soil beneath the clay of my property on a rented Cat D9 dozer. I am not sure my brain has come to rest yet from that beating. But the thrill of seeing it fill in the rains later that summer and fall along with the many life forms that soon made it their home were as satisfying as anything I have painted. I often look at it and think that it will be here long after I am gone, supporting lives of creatures that will have no knowledge of my efforts.  

And that pleases me greatly. Even as much as any legacy my work here in the studio, if any, will have.

I think I will call this little painting Calling Me Home. Not sure it’s absolutely the title others will see but if fits for me this morning.

Here’s the song from Ms. Giddens. have a good day, 

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Cry No More, 2020

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , on October 4, 2020| Leave a Comment »

“Song of Silence”- at Principle Gallery, Alexandria

All your silver, all your gold
Won’t shine brighter than your soul

—Rhiannon Giddens, He Will See You Through

Just want to play some music this Sunday morning and not make commentary on anything. Just let it be for the moment.

These are two songs from one of my favorites, Rhiannon Giddens, who never fails to deliver incredible performances.

The first is a new version of her powerful song Cry No More, which was written in response to the massacre at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC in 2015. This new version and video reflects the distancing of current days and is as emotionally charged in its messaging as the first.

The second song is He Will See You Through from a collaboration last year with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. that resulted in a wonderful album, There Is No Other. I love the spare beauty of this song. If you get a chance, give a listen to the rest of the album. Great stuff.

Have a good day.

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Don’t Let It Trouble Your Mind

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Painting, tagged , on November 24, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Decompressing and keeping it simple this morning. Something soothing perhaps.

I’ve been looking at some work recently from back in 2006 and have been struck by the tranquility and simple cleanness of design in many of the pieces from that time. It makes me feel like I should be backtracking a bit to revisit this work to see how it would emerge in the present time.

Would it have the same sort of placid quality or was that a product of my state of mind at that time? Is that something that can just be conjured up at any time?

Hmm. Something to think about but I’m not going to let it trouble my mind which brings me to this week’s Sunday morning music. It’s from Rhiannon Giddens and is her version of the old (first released in 1969) Dolly Parton classic, the beautifully written Don’t Let It Trouble Your Mind. Rhiannon delivers a great version, as she always does.

Give a listen, have a good Sunday and don’t let it trouble your mind.

 

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Cry No More

Posted in Current Events, Music, Opinion, Video, tagged on June 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

There is just way too much to do this morning as I am finishing up work on my upcoming July show at the West End Gallery. But even though my time is spent on this work, the events taking place in this country occupy my mind a lot of this time. I am not going to go into it at this point but I wanted to share a video that speaks to it in a way.

It is from one of my favorites, the ultra talented Rhiannon Giddens, and was produced in the aftermath of the Charleston, SC church shooting in which 9 church members were murdered. It’s probably hard to remember, there have been so many mass shootings in the years since that we barely notice anymore when only 3 or 4 or 5 people are killed.

The song is Cry No More and the words at the top appear at the end of the video. They serve as a powerful reminder that we get what we put up with and that to be silent is to accept this status quo. All the tears in the world accomplish nothing unless they are followed with a powerful and unified voice.

So, cry no more. Know your history. Know your mind. Speak up. Be loud.

 

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I’m On My Way

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Poetry, tagged , , on April 7, 2019| 4 Comments »

*************************

“The untold want, by life and land ne’er granted,

Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.”

― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

*************************

A little short on time this morning (what’s new?) but I wanted to share this new song from an upcoming album by a favorite of mine, Rhiannon Giddens. She has one of those voices that always seems absolute and powerful. A beautiful rarity. I felt that this particular song fit right in with the theme behind much of my work, especially in the line in its chorus :

Don’t know where I’m going but I know what to do

Does anyone really know what they’re looking for in this life? Just doing the right thing and being honest with ourselves is all we can do as we search.

So, give a listen and keep on seeking, folks. Have a great day.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Xlyi8Is98

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Passing the Blues

Posted in Favorite Things, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on May 26, 2017| 4 Comments »

There are colors that really trigger reactions within me. Most people would no doubt think that the color red would be the main one and perhaps they are right. The Red Tree is certainly the thing that would come to mind for those who know my work. And Red Roofs and Red Chairs.

Or maybe one might think that it’s the Indian yellow, a warm color that was the basis for much of my early work. It creates a most satisfying peaceful feeling in me still, after all these years. It would n’t be a bad guess.

But for me, I always come back to the blues along with the purples that spin off of them. They excite, mesmerize, tranquilize, intoxicate and pacify me. They take the melancholy and anxiety of existence and mix it with the sheer joy of living and feeling to create an aura that surrounds our life. I don’t even know if that sentence makes any sense but it sure feels like the color blue to me.

An example of this might be found in this new painting that is part of my show at the Principle Gallery that opens a week from today, June 2. This 12″ by 12″ painting on canvas is titled Passing the Blues.

It’s a piece that I have been coming back to in the past few weeks, just hovering over it as I take it in.  There’s a feeling in it for me that I would describe as sweet sorrow. Kind of like the appreciation you might have for the melancholy that sometimes comes with this life. It’s not joy but it lets you know that you are are a living and feeling person.

And that, in itself, is a wonderful thing.

And that is how I see the blue colors.

Here’s a song that has that same feeling of sweet sorrow for me.  It’s a great song originally written and performed by Dolly Parton. It’s Don’t Let It Trouble Your Mind and is performed here by a favorite of mine, Rhiannon Giddens.

 

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La Vie en Rose

Posted in Current Events, Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , on July 24, 2016| 1 Comment »

west-end-gallery-160First thing this morning, many thanks to everyone who came out to the West End Gallery on Friday night for the opening of my show there.  I am most appreciative for anyone who takes the time on a hot Friday summer evening to come into the gallery.  It was great seeing old and new friends as well as seeing how they reacted to the work, which was hung beautifully by Lin and Jesse.  They did a great job pairing the paintings with original glass work —  each seemed to reflect and enhance the other.

Again, many thanks for making this a great show.  If you haven’t had a chance to get into the West End Gallery, please do try soon.  The show hangs until September 2.  I will also be giving a Gallery Talk on Saturday, August 6 from 1-2 PM at the gallery.  As is now tradition, there will be some sharing so mark the date and try to come on in.

This morning is the end of the Tour de France, the incredible bike race that is one of my favorite events of every summer.  This last day is generally a ceremonial stage, with the riders coming into Paris en masse for a final end of race for one final sprint to the finish line.

Tour de France Froome and Team SkyThe race leader this year is past two-time Tour winner Chris Froome, a Kenyan-born Brit whose skinny frame hides a huge diesel motor within that seems to just chug and chug without end.  Froome’s dominance is quite remarkable but just enduring such a race is incredible in itself.  Three weeks with only two days of rest that covers about 2100 miles that wind around France and neighboring countries, up and over the highest peaks and mountain passes in the Alps and Pyrenees.  

It is speed, strength and sheer endurance mixed in with the toughness to scramble up after hitting the road at 45 MPH and continue riding a tough course for another 50 miles.   Imagine running half and full marathons nearly every day for three weeks over rugged terrain in all sorts of weather.  That’s the Tour.

I always hate to see it end.

So for this Sunday morning music here’s a French classic, La Vie en Rose, sung by the wondrous Rhiannon Giddens.  It is a gorgeous version that she mad in response to the terror attacks in France last year.  Unfortunately, it applies this year as well.

But be optimistic and have a great Sunday!

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