17 March 2020
Often we’re too busy to notice the view right in front of us. One of my students, when I asked about what they missed being away from home, softly described the view of the city at night from his bedroom window in what he called ‘the projects where I live.’
“At night,” he said, “the lights go on forever, and every light, I think, is a soul.”
Make art about seeing the world through your window.
6 September 2019
Make art about the hurricane, literal or metaphorical, about evacuating, or choosing to ride out the storm, about standing in the eye of the storm.
Image by WikiImages from Pixabay
30 August 2019
Make art about assembling what you need to be ready.
20 February 2019
“you say love is a burning building: then run in:”–JP Dancing Bear
Make art about that burning building.
16 February 2019
“I think to Earth
it looks like the first first rain, the water
of the beginning”- Jeffrey Bean
Make art about what begins with rain, or that begins with rain, or about ‘the first first rain.’
2 September 2017
Make art about money, having money, or not having it.
3 September 2017
Make art poverty of the spirit.
4 September 2017
Make art about the origin of a lie.
5 September 2017
Make art about the sound of animal, a purring cat, a growling dog, the whistle of a songbird, the cry of a hawk.
6 September 2017
Make art about the storm coming.
7 September 2017
Make art about arrogance, an arrogant person, about dealing with arrogance.
8 September 2017
Make art about preparing to leave.
9 September 2017
Make art inspired by or about water words: aquaduct, bog, creek, drizzle, fjord…
More here: 100 Words for Water: http://www.wallacejnichols.org/234/623/100-words-for-water.html
10 September 2017
Make art about rescue, rescuing, being rescued.
11 September 2017
Make art about recovery, about what that recovery means to you.
10/4/2016
I grew up in Hurricane Alley, eastern North Carolina, so the preparation for these big storms is something I learned early. Hurricane Matthew has ripped through Haiti, and is on his way to the US East Coast. All my provisions are laid in, flashlights and emergency equipment in place and ready, and I’ve battened down as much as I can. But sometimes Mama Nature’s just too big and unpredictable for any kind of preparation.
Make art about preparing the best you can.
10/5/2016
Thinking a lot today about all the ways people find their way to, or demonstrate faith. Took me immediately to one of my top three favorite songs, The Mountain, by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer.
Excerpted Lyrics by Dave Carter
Some build temples and some find altars,
some come in tall hats and robes spun fine.
Some in rags, some in gemstone halters,
some push the pegs back in line.
I see the mountain, the mountain comes to me,
I see the mountain and that is all I see.
Make art about temples or altars or shrines, faith in some unexpected way.
10/6/2016
Road Angel Andrea at Walmart today told me about her grandmama teaching her to sew, first by making curtains, long straight hems, she said, over and over again, summer curtains, winter curtains with their heavy lining. She said her grandmama was patient but tough, making her tear out crooked stitches, and try again til she got it right. “I learned to take my time,” she said. “I learned to take my time, look ahead of the foot, and how a pair of curtains can make all the difference in a room.”
Make art about curtains. Or about what you learned from an elder.
Mary Carroll-Hackett: Poetry and Prose 
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