the music that keeps me going.

In the spirit of all the end-of-year best-of lists, I have been thinking for a while now about the music that I just can't do without... not a top ten list, but a list of the albums that have affected me most powerfully... my own "best of" list, albums that have stood the test of time for me.




Good Dog Bad Dog - Over the Rhine (1996, reissued 2000)
A masterpiece, simply put. I could listen for hours at a time and never be any less affected by Karin's haunting voice. Songwriting has never been so honest and potent.



Sixpence None the Richer - Sixpence None the Richer (1997)
The triple-whammy, three-bleeding-into-one trinity of opening songs captivates me every time I listen to it... it's a damn shame that "Kiss Me" (though a wonderfully sweet pop song) ended up killing the band and overshadowing what is otherwise a very different feeling album. Remove "Kiss Me" and you have a very different masterpiece of poetic, wandering musings about faith, despair, hope, and hard reality.


This Beautiful Mess- Sixpence None the Richer (1995)
This cd got me through high school. I still connect to it deeply each time I listen to it.


It's Hard to Find a Friend - Pedro the Lion (1998, reissue 2001)
Dave Bazan made it okay for many of us frustrated young Christian burnouts to struggle out loud with our faith. see: "The Secret of the Easy Yoke"




Christ is My Hope/Birds of My Neighborhood - Innocence Mission (2000/1999)
It's got to be a tie between these two cds, both of which have some of my favorites songs by this underrated and understated band.




to be continued...

We Have Forgotten

Some thoughts on remembering, as the new year approaches...

From "Walking on Water" by Madeleine L'Engle (quite possibly the best book ever written, period):

"In art, either as creators or participators, we are helped to remember some of the glorious things we have forgotten, and some of the terrible things we are asked to endure, we who are children of God by adoption and grace.
In one of his dialogues, Plato talks of all learning as remembering. The chief job of the teacher is to help us to remember all we have forgotten. This fits in well with Jung's concept of racial memory, his belief that when we are enabled to dip into the intuitive, subconscious self, we remember more than we know. One of the great sorrows which came to human beings when Adam and Eve left the garden was the loss of memory, memory of all that God's children are meant to be.
Perhaps one day I will remember how to walk across Dog Pond."




"We Have Forgotten" by Sixpence None the Richer---

Dreams, inconsistent angel things.
Horses bred with star-laced wings.
But it's so hard to make them fly, fly, fly.
These wings beat the night sky 'bove the town.
One goes up and one goes down.
And so the chariot hits the ground, bound, bound.

We have forgotten (don't try to make me fly)
How it used to be (I'll stay here, I'll be fine).
How it used to be (don't go and let me down)
How it used to be (I'm starting to like this town).

When wings beat the night sky 'bove the ground,
Will I unwillingly shoot them down
With all my petty fears and doubts, down, down?

We have forgotten (am I in love with this?)
How it used to be (my constant broken ship)
How it used to be (don't go, I'll shoot you down),
How it used to be (I'm starting to like this town).

BiolArt Symposium: On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art

March 14-15, 2008----

The Biola Art department will host and facilitate a major symposium featuring Dr. James Elkins, Dr. Karen Kleinfelder, Dr. Dan Siedell, Roger Feldman, Christina Valentine, and a number of others... (moderated by our own Jonathan Anderson). The overall theme is a discussion of Elkin's book "On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art."
The weekend will also end in an alumni reunion dinner to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the art department.

Aside from being an incredibly engaging and relevant subject, this is going to be the biggest event the art department has ever had the honor to be involved in--- so mark your calendars. All lectures are free (donations encouraged), however the meals have a fee and require a reservation (see the website below).

For more information, click here.

The thing I miss most about Minnesota:

the beloved Mall of America

If one must participate in the tragedy that is mass consumer spending, why not go all out and do it here?



The center theme park used to be Knotts Camp Snoopy. Now it's just sad.



The Legoland shop is getting very dusty.


Remember kids, leave your guns at home:




Four stories, and four sections, of stuff you really don't need.


Dave says hello:





Nothing tops a day of shopping at America's biggest mall like a sampling of Wisconsin cheeses. Two-year old cheddar, smoked bacon gouda, curds curds and curds....

Fluke, by Nathan Huesmann

"Fluke," by Nathan Huesmann, has finally been published--

It documents his photography over the last three years, from his involvement in my MFA project (Shared Horizons) on through his current work.

It can be previewed (and purchased, if you so wish) at the following link:

blurb bookstore- Nathan Huesmann

KayLynn Deveney, part 2

"Edith and Len" by KayLynn Deveney



October 30
The seasons are changing today. The sky is darker and more wet. The leaves are dancing around the streets. Edith asked me today if I could imagine what it’s like to sit there all day, every day, the way she did. I thought, I am desperately trying to imagine it.





November 2
Visited Len and Edith today around teatime. Len seemed very unhealthy— bad cough, weepy eyes, no appetite, talking less and shaking more. Edith was very emotional and cried a lot. · It was hard yesterday, for them and me. It was hard to photograph her crying. It seemed very cold to pick my camera up and stick it in her face.







November 18
I’m so angry right now. When I went to Edith and Len’s room I could hear a caregiver inside. I
knew it was about time for Len to get dressed, so I stopped outside the door. I heard this caregiver telling Edith to shut up, that she was an evil old woman and not to touch Len. Edith came bursting out the door and I followed her. When Edith and I got back to the room, Len was gone. She asked this caregiver where he was, and she was told he was in the lounge. Edith said, “I’ll have him back now.” The caregiver said no. Edith said, “He’s my husband, not yours.” · I called their son, Roger, when I got home.

KayLynn Deveney

"The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings"

From the book: "When Albert Hastings was 85 years old, photographer KayLynn Deveney moved near his small flat in Wales. Kaylynn took notice of the small rituals and routines-- gardening, laundry, grocery shopping-- that made up Bert's life. A friendships slowly developed as Kaylynn started photographing parts of Bert's day."

www.kaylynndeveney.com

Brian Ulrich

I'm going to try to start regularly posting photographers and artists whom I have been captivated by... first up: Brian Ulrich.

http://www.notifbutwhen.com/

I first ran across his work through MP3: part of the Midwest Photographers project organized by the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago (www.mocp.org). Midwesterners unite. He currently teaches at Columbia Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago.




Few photos have reminded me of home in Minnesota as much as this one.
___


Most of these are from his "Copia" series- visit the site to see more.

Thanksgiving: new additions to my ongoing "Northwoods Journals" project

Brooke, waiting for dad


Ryan's new dirt bike


Mikey's new dirt bike





Chad and Jenny's house. Under construction, again.

Some thoughts on Silence and Solitude

“Silence is God’s first language.”
- St John of the Cross, 16th century.


Introduction, by Franz Wright (2nd half):

I am here to learn
to bear
the beams of love,
what else

Bells
through the leaves, I am here to endure the
bells tolling
underground

Like you a guest, a ghost

Everything will be forgotten

And either I am too alone
or I am not
alone enough
to make each moment
holy

(No one bats 1.000, friend
no one
bats .500)

And I have heard God's silence like the sun
and sought to change

Now
I'm just going to listen to the silence

till the Silence



“Love your solitude… it will be your home and haven even in the midst of very strange conditions, and from there you will discover all your paths.”
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet



“…take time away from busy-ness, time to be. I’ve long since stopped feeling guilty about taking being time; it’s something we all need for our spiritual health.
…listen to the silence, stay open to the voice of the Spirit. …slow me down Lord.”
-Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water

"A Journey of Hope" now available!

"A Journey of Hope: A handbook for grieving people and the people who support them" by Susan K. Beeney, R.N., is now available for purchase.

To order online, visit:
www.newhopegriefresources.com
($20 plus shipping and tax).

I had the pleasure of designing the book and incorporating my photography to illustrate the process that a grieving person must go through. Over 40 of my photographs from various places across America and Europe are found in the book.