How does one live in the moment, in the here and now? It’s something I wrestle with as I hold out hope for tomorrow while dealing with whatever good or ill today may offer. The work I share with you on the walls of the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery manifest themselves in three different ways negotiating the gift of the present.
One category are works I call Ontological Moorings. The term is what philosophers would refer to as the appreciation of and a response to, what is real in the here and now. In a world that is so often dissociated from the present, creating these works are a centering act of being in the moment. As best as I am able, there are no preconceived notions when the works are begun, instead the piece finds inspiration in what is encountered. They reflect and bounce off the spirit of the day, and echo what is found in the physicality of the moment. Many on exhibit were created in Spain, France, Portugal and Morocco, while traveling abroad with students in May of 2022 and 2023. With them, I’ve given you elaborate descriptions to help you join me on the journey.
Another type of work in this exhibition are works of empathy. These are mixed media works of art that were created as acts of prayer and remembering, while holding up communities in crisis.
Lastly, with the worldwide COVID catastrophe, political polarization, climate crisis and the like, I can feel myself collapsing into despair. To help pull myself out, I felt I was being challenged to create work that stayed in the moment, naming the everyday and the difficulties, but that also held out a sincere optimism and hope for the future. The larger grids of wood engraving prints embody that faith.
Here is to a better tomorrow than today. Here is to a belief in a God that loves us more than we can imagine. Here is to the truth that in the dark the light shines the brightest. And here is to my hope that art can be a part of all that. May you find something for yourself on these walls.
