Being Human

This morning I read a beautiful post by the friend who inspired me to begin this blog, Terry Bernardini. I had just returned from picking blackberries and was contemplating Philippians 2 from The Message-  "Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of Himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of Himself that He had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of Deity and took on the status of a slave, became human." 'Became human'. He became one of us and we are a fragile, odd lot. 'Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love...' wrote the hymnist Robert Robinson. We humans hurt and leave those we love, struggle with being content (it is a fine line between contentment and apathy), and, are easily offended. And yet, The King of Glory became a man. 

Terry reminded me that humans have fingertips, and this morning my fingertips are sore because blackberry bushes have thorns. But they are worth the pain.  

Here's a video my son, Sam, introduced me to; a group of humans who know how to use their fingertips.

Dash of Life

Elementary Rules of Usage

Strunk & White, The Elements of Style

On a gravestone,

there is a significant mark that is often missed- the dash between the date of birth and the date of death; an engraved summary of all that occurred between two moments in earth time.

Today I am living in the dash.

A dash is, of course, the stuff drawings are made of.

Artists call them lines.

Psalm 19 begins, 'The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line (sound, precision, musical string) has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun.'

The Hebrew word for line in this Psalm is kav. One Rabbi says of kav- "The precision of the universe is likened to a surveyor's tape stretched out to the ends of the earth. This means that the precision of the cosmos is evident all over the earth to any observer."

Maybe that is why John Muir said, "Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe."

A language of line

The Letter

oh, the power in a line

to ascend and descend

arc and loop

open close

thin becoming thick

as thought begets

a river of black-

and there is Life

Silence

"Be still and know that I am God."

Psalm 46:10

propaedeutic (prō′pi do̵̅o̅t′ik, -dyo̵̅o̅t′-)

Gr propaideuein, to teach beforehand pro-, before + paideuein, to instruct pais (gen. paidos), child

of, or having the nature of, elementary or introductory instruction

Over my desk hangs a crucifix, sculpted by an artist who lived with us for a time. Over the years I have reflected on the power of this work. I sit here now, and as I gaze upon the gaping mouth filled with silent anguish, I hear these words from the Psalms-

"Be still and know that I am God."

For most of my life the focus of Psalm 46:10 has been on the command to 'cease and desist', to stop and and make time to be still. A few weeks ago I began a painting based on this verse. While working through the Hebrew I stopped at the expression and know. In the Hebrew, the expression contains four characters, beginning and ending with a vav- the Hebrew letter which, to the ancients, symbolized a nail. Two nails frame a thought that should form my thoughts. Upon two nails hung the wisdom of God.

The apostle Paul penned it thus-

"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." I Cor. 1:21.

Jeremy Begbie said, "Wisdom is lived knowledge."

Life is found in knowing the One between the nails.

Sam

Sam playing my Stringer

Sam's Strat signed by Leigh Nash

"Failure to hit the bulls-eye is never the fault of the target."

Gilbert Arland

Recently, one of my students suggested I mount a refrigerator door on the art room wall. "You can hang all the 'crappy' pictures on it with magnets" he said. In a world steeped in mediocrity there is, I suppose, a multitude of 'crappy' pictures. But, in an ongoing effort to promote young artists producing good work, pieces that hit the 'bulls-eye', it is with great pleasure I feature the work of my youngest son, Samuel Christian Carter.

Sam is a true warrior poet, defender of the oppressed (I have witnessed him step between small peers and large ones, ending fights with a glare). He loves music (currently being privately tutored on guitar by Luke Skaggs, son of music legend Ricky Skaggs, thank you Luke!!), writing poetry and painting. Fives times Sam's work has been named Watercolor of the Day in Teen Ink, an online magazine for teens. At Trinity, Sam's school, he is editor of InkVein, the school literary magazine. He is frequently asked by his youth leader to speak to the youth, sharing things that God is doing in his life. On several occasions he has worked on paintings in front of the church congregation and last week a lady purchased the painting produced that night. He is an amazing young man. I am blessed to call him son.

And he has only been on the planet sixteen years.

I look forward to seeing all that God has planned for him.

These are a few of the pieces produced to date.

A Place For the Heart

A Drawing by Cadence Helser for me

"What we know about God and what we do for God have a way of getting broken apart in our lives. The moment the organic unity of belief and behavior is damaged in any way, we are incapable of living out the full humanity for which we were created."

Eugene Peterson

"Do you wanna play 20 questions?" Cadence asked. It was more a statement of introduction than a question. Earlier I noticed him explaining one of his drawings to Chris, an intern at A Place For the Heart. I asked him if he would draw something for me. That is when he asked, "Do you wanna play 20 questions?" Over the next few days we would play several times. And, Cadence drew a picture for me (now on my office wall).

For the past decade the staff and students of Trinity have gone to A Place For the Heart for spring camp. It is unlike any camp I have ever experienced. From the moment we walked onto the property I sensed the overwhelming expression, "You are welcome here!"

I stayed in cabin Malachi with six of my students, and guys, tho' a little smelly, you were great!! The first night, after a gourmet dinner (all the food was awesome! Thank You Linda Helser!), Jonathan David Helser led in worship.

The next few days were a blur...a shaving cream battle- Brave Heart WaterBalloon Siege- a water slide of near-Biblical proportion- late night 'smores, and anointed worship music.

But for me, the best moments were spent in the woods, alone with the Lord. The first day I found a trail marked 'Prayzebo' and headed up the hill. It was late afternoon. To my left a Cardinal sang, on my right I passed a stand of Sassafras saplings. And then, at the end of a ridgetop trail, there it was, the Prayzebo; an octagonally-shaped prayer chapel, set apart from the world and time. As I stepped inside I was overcome by the presence of the Holy Spirit. My next three mornings would be spent there- my Bible in one hand- a carafe of coffee in the other.

God is good.

Jonathan and me

Ken and me

"The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less."

an excerpt from a letter to a struggling church in Corinth,Greece,

written by a former Pharisee named Paul

The Wall

Plan for Art Room Mural


"How do I know what I think
'till I see what I say?"
E.M. Forster

"...there is nothing new under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 1:9

And so it begins, a new project for the Art Room; it is, to date, the most ambitious I have been a part of. The students will paint a mural around the entire room- 2 feet in height around the upper perimeter of the entire room- a visual time-line of art history, 136 linear feet in length. Beginning with cave paintings, the mural will progress through the ages by featuring one work indicative of each era, coming full circle into the 21st Century with graffiti art. Early man painted on walls, and today, men paint on walls.
There really is nothing new under the sun.

Sam working on the drawing

Students will stand on scaffolding and work shoulder-to-shoulder. The project may take a couple of years, depending on the students (I am selecting the images-I want the students to produce the mural). The goal is to one day have a student stand in the middle of the room and experience thousands of years with their eyes.

Proposed Images- Wall #1

Progress reports will follow from time to time.

Beginning Again

limen li·men (lī'mən)

The place or point of beginning; the threshold


"In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it, they must not do too much of it, and they must have a sense of success in it."
John Ruskin
1819-1900

Every so often it happens- to grossly paraphrase John Ruskin, 'just often enough to keep you going' - a student gets it. The aha moment that teachers live for. It happened with Dana.

Dana finished her second print edition today. Several weeks in progress, her current set (titled Sublime) received the 15th and final color today. It is technically and aesthetically stunning. And to think, I was hesitant to introduce the class to screen printing, or, to use the proper jargon- serigraphy. The process is messy, technically challenging and time-consuming. Patience and discipline, attributes not usually seen in High School students, are mandatory. But, introduce it, I did.

For her first print. Dana asked if she could use an open cigarette pack as the subject. Again, hesitancy. Trinity is, after all, a Christian school. What message would be sent? It was a liminal moment. In my experience, students tend to treat the assignment seriously if they are interested in the subject. So, after a quick prayer, I said, "yes." After Dana pulled the second color, she asked, "Did I tell you the title?"

"No."

"Suicide."

"That's a good title."

Sometimes a title redeems an image. The finished print is beautiful.

And so, Dana began her second print- Sublime.

There are a number of things that make the final prints exceptional-
1.) Before Suicide Dana had never done a screen print.
2.) The screen was hand-blocked (NOT a photo screen).
3.) All the materials were non-traditional, e.g. the fabric was curtain material from Walmart stretched over a picture frame, the blockout was latex paint

and the squeegee was stiff plastic from a storage container lid

Twenty two finished prints

Well done!

Sublime

Serigraph on black Foamcore

13.5"x13.5"

by Dana Shapiro

Dana has selected the image for her third and final edition- an elephant in shades of grey. I have no doubt that it will be beautiful.