Angels

Somewhere I heard a story about Michelangelo pushing a huge piece of rock down a street. A curious neighbor sitting lazily on the porch of his house called to him and inquired why he labored so over an old piece of stone. 

Michelangelo is reported to have answered, "Because there is an angel in that rock that wants to come out." 

Every person has the task of releasing angels by shaping and transfiguring the raw materials that lie about [us].... 

How we do this...is determined by the discovery and the use of our gifts.

Etch A Sketch

Just for fun on a Saturday afternoon...

Awesome Etch-A-Sketch Art

(written by Mike Smith)

 

No childhood toy box is complete without an Etch-A-Sketch. Invented by French electrician André Cassagnes in the 1950s, popularized by the Ohio Art Company during the 60s, and esteemed as one of the western world’s favorite toys ever since, it’s a true classic.

It’s not exactly the easiest of toys to use, however. Sure, it’s not too hard to sketch out a few squares or a few crooked lines, but actually producing a piece of art? Forget about it.

Or so you might assume. Unlikely though it seems, there are a number of artists for whom the Etch-A-Sketch is their chosen canvas -- and they’re unbelievably good. Check out some of their finest work:

By J. Gagliardi

 By George Vlosich III

There's more here...

 

Amazing!

Most people think stained glass adorns only the windows of churches. But this amazing piece of art graces the NY skyline:

His monumental sculpture, Watertower, is built out of salvaged plexiglass and steel, and is mounted high upon a water tower platform located in DUMBO, Brooklyn. 

You can view this stunning public installation from Lower Manhattan, FDR Drive, and the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. 

More here

Ecce Homo

Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)

The Bible Study we've used for the Youth this Lent is: 24 Hours that Changed the World by Adam Hamilton. The workbook is written with Youth in mind but I have borrowed the suggestion to use a painting to encourage discussion each week from the adult study. Although I have no experience with interpreting works of art, there have been some exciting insights that jumped out to us, uninitiated as we are.

Ciseri's Ecce Homo is one such painting. It shows Pontius Pilate leaning out toward the crowd, arm stretched back dramatically, as if trying to will the crowd into changing their minds about the crucifixion. I can almost hear him saying "Behold the man, this King of the Jews, what has he done to deserve death?" Although I'm sure he understood that the root cause of the Sanhedrin's request was jealousy, I truly believe (as evil as he was), he couldn't fathom why the crowd took up the chant. Pilate had the power to turn Jesus loose, but he was unwilling to go against the mob and was unable to change their mind.

Jesus, of course, stands mute with head bowed. But what of the others standing behind Pilate? The guard behind Jesus leans back as if to stay out of the view of the crowd. The man on the far right (with his back to us), looks as if he is leaning against the pillar for support. Perhaps he heard Jesus speak and His words had changed the man's heart. Is he disgusted that he cannot find a way to speak to Pilate now? Maybe he's asking himself, "What do you say to the most powerful person you know to change his mind?" Especially with the crowd against you? The woman facing us must have been Pilate's wife. We see her hand on the shoulder of the other woman, it's as if the wife is saying, "I've done all I can, I just wish he would listen!" The young lady is there to comfort her but even she seems anguished. Can you hear her thoughts? "Why doesn't Pilate just change the verdict? Can't he see how this is upsetting my mistress?" Finally, what of the man on the left? With hand on hip, he surveys the entire scene...Is he oblivious to what's going on? Is he hoping for a change of  verdict? Or is he just wishing it was all over?

I mentioned Pilate's inability to change the verdict. It wasn't that he couldn't, he most certainly had the power and jurisdiction to do so! But, he would be seen as going against a fractious population that hated the Romans. At what point do you do what is right regardless of how unpopular your decision makes you? Did washing his hands of the matter truly make him innocent? Only in his mind...

Spend a few moments contemplating the painting. Which character "speaks" to you? 
For me, it is Pilate's wife:

We can relate to her agony by inserting how our own sins have caused the suffering of Jesus. The brilliance of the perspective of Pilate's wife is that she, apparently, had no idea that Jesus was God or that he was dying for ours sins. If she had so much sorrow simply because she sensed that something was unjust, imagine how great her sorrow could have been had she known the sublime and grim reality of what was happening before her eyes.

Had you been in this group, who would you have been?

Expression in paint

We have watched painters such as this one at conference youth events and their vision and talent never ceases to amaze me!



Artist is: David Garibaldi

Beauty...

In the 1965 movie titled "The Agony and the Ecstasy" Pope Julius II asks "When will you make an end?" To which Michelangelo replies "When I am finished"!

499 years ago today, Michelangelo's masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel was opened to the public.

"Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving."   Johann Wolfgang Goethe (August 23, 1787)

Beauty...

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Children's drawings radiate the thrill of looking at the world with fresh eyes. The way a child draws a rooster, a tree, or a monkey is a celebration of life; it is grate-ful-ness in the literal sense of the word: the full response to a world that is a given world - a free gift, pure grace, gratis. 

Next time you're feeling down, or empty...go to the Gratefulness website and see the world through the eyes and art of children...

Freedom!

I love this sculpture by Zenos Frudakis...

Art...

Although artwork is meant to be enjoyed, in many cases, it should also be studied. While I have spent time seated before paintings in order to draw may own conclusions, it is a treat to have someone explain what must have been (or may have been) in the artists mind while he/she worked on their piece.

"The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio"

Museums and Art

I recently read an article by Kevin Kirby called “Lost in Museums”. In it he explains his disdain for works of art that have been taken from the places that originally housed them and moved to museums.
His main focus are works of religious art. “Great works of art are so often stuffed into museums not easily accessible and therefore lose a part of the humanity that was their inspiration. The saddest version of this is surely when devotional images of any religion are pilfered from houses of worship and placed in sterile mediocrity.”

He also mentions the Elgin Marbles that are currently housed in the British Museum. Surely, he says, they would be better viewed in the context of the Parthenon...where they were originally carved...wouldn't they?

One could argue both sides. While I agree that most pieces of religious art should be housed in churches, temples or shrines, the other side of the argument tells me there are those who see them in a museum that would never be able to view them otherwise. They are also protected in museums. But what of the context...what of the inspiration that caused the work in the first place? Wouldn't the pieces be better viewed in the “holy” places? Do the museums truly make them more accessible? Accessible to whom? Those who would see them in the spiritual or those who merely view them for their artistic achievement? I can't say that I have an answer...while I do agree with him on one hand, I also appreciate the fact that the museums can keep the pieces safe from harm and in the best possible condition.

I have always dreamed of seeing Michelangelo's Pieta. While I have seen a replica, in the JFK Library, to be able to view the original would be a memorable achievement...and I must say, I like the fact that if I ever do get to see it, I will have to go to the Vatican to do so.

Michelangelo

536 years ago today, Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in Caprese, Tuscany.

Several years ago, I had the great good fortune to view a small portion of his works which are housed in The Louvre in Paris. It is absolutely amazing that a man with chisel and hammer can work a piece of stone and make it look as if it should be breathing...Breathtaking is a perfect word for his works.

As I have mentioned before, of all that I have seen (either in person or in picture) my favorite piece is without a doubt, the Pieta. Perhaps some day I will see it in person!

Michelangelo's Pietas
Loneliness and sorrow were Michelangelo's companions in the last years of his life. His younger friends, Vittoria Colonna and Luigi del Riccio were already dead, and in 1556 his faithful servant Urbino died too. In this period, he insistently produced studies and drawings of the Crucifixion and the Lament over the Dead Christ.

They were also the years of his last sculptures, including the Florentine Pietà, carved for his own tomb. Dissatisfied with his work, Michelangelo attacked the sculpture with a hammer, breaking off a leg and an arm from the figure of Christ and one of the Virgin Mary's hands. Another sculpture the so-called Rondanini Pietà, consisting solely of the figures of the Madonna and Christ, may have been begun by Michelangelo before 1550 but had remained unfinished.

Now his friends - we are told by Vasari - had asked him to start work on it again "so that he could continue using his chisel everyday." Still perfectly lucid, the almost ninety-year-old Michelangelo created one of his most spiritual images, in which the Mother and Christ almost interpenetrate in an indissoluble union, beyond passion and physical death.

Ironically, this Pieta is housed under the dome that Michelangelo designed in Rome, which is the dome of the Sistine Chapel.

Prehistoric Art

I believe that art and music are created within the soul and are spiritual expressions...

For years I have been fascinated by the prehistoric cave paintings found throughout the world. I can't help but believe that those who were able to throw off the limitations of their time and create such beauty were truly close to God and the earth...



Whether the paintings were created as a form of storytelling, as a pictorial history or merely to beautify their living space...



I am pleased they have been preserved to be enjoyed even today...to check out one such site...visit here.

Enjoy!