A Big Daily Doses of Art Catchup + Dump Because Life Wow
The Daily Doses of Art are still happening on my end, but I obviously took a break from posting because when more life happens, I have to pause some things and this is a great thing to pause.
So, below is a list of some of the Daily Doses of Art since I last posted. And I’m not sure when/if I’ll be posting daily again. It became a lovely daily practice to review my day and choose one art encounter to share but travel and life and dealing with someone infringing on one of my trademarks and more travel and a lovely writing workshop and being haunted be a new thing to research and write about and pretty much starting a small press sort of took over.
But here we are. Let’s catch up on some daily doses of art.
October 28: One of the readings for the FANTASTIC Collegeville Institute Workshop I attended during the week of October 27 was “The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman,” and it is such a great piece of writing.
October 29: Another reading for the FANTASTIC Collegeville Institute Workshop I attended during the week of October 27 was an excerpt from Paradise by Toni Morrison. And I have to admit I have not read the entire book yet but I will be reading it very soon. Love Morrison. Also, our workshop cohort went to the Virginina Museum of Fine Arts together for more characterization study, and it was so lovely for so many reasons.
October 30: Another reading for the FANTASTIC Collegeville Institute Workshop I attended during the week of October 27 was an excerpt from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. Love Woolf so much, too. And I will be re-reading this entire novel very soon, as well.
October 31: I did some more exploring in Richmond for several hours on this day, and had Carbon Leaf on repeat during the driving parts of my day. I definitely bonded with this band, and they will probably show up in my end-of-year Spotify wrapped lol. Also they will be in the Atlanta area in January, and I’m thinking about going to the show.
November 1: After the workshop completed, I stayed in Richmond a couple of extra days for some research and more exploring. I attended an All Saints’ Day service on Saturday, November 1, the liturgy included an excerpt from “Meditation XVII’ by John Dunne that I have continued to return to most days this month.
November 2: On Sunday, November 2, I woke up super early and started my day with a long drive through Shenandoah National Park before heading home. It was a long and full and beautiful day, and I listened to various musicians from the different areas I drove through as I made my way back to Birmingham. When trying to find music to listen to after leaving the park and getting back on the interstate, I discovered that Patsy Cline was from this area, so Patsy accompanied me for a few hours during my travels.
November 3: Sue Monk Kidd has a new book out on creativity and writing, and I read several more pages.
November 4: During a Spiritual Direction for Writers® 1:1 session, a client mentioned the song “Monochrome” by Mumford & Sons so we used the lyrics as the closing prayer at the end of the session. And I listened to the song a few times that night. So lovely as a prayer. If you pray, I highly recommend it as a prayer. If you don’t pray, I highly recommend it as a song that you listen to without thinking about God or whatever.
November 5: I read some more of of The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee which I began reading on November 4. Also, the intro by Casey Cep is so so good.
November 6: So grateful I was able to take a quick trip to New York for some art and work + writing stuff. The Ruth Asawa retrospective at MoMA is just stunning. I mean. If you can get to this exhibition, get thee there. And if you can be in New York before December 13, you also need to see this exhibition of Joan Mitchell’s art that focuses on the years 1960-1965 which is stunning and dreamy. I was able to attend the opening on November 6 and return for another look on November 7 with a much emptier gallery space for closer looking. What a gift. (My friend Robert met me at the gallery on Friday, and the thumbnail image for this entry shows Robert with one of Mitchell’s paintings.)
November 7: I listened to the audio version of this book on my flight back to Birmingham last night. Love Hardwick so much.
November 8: During a call with a Spiritual Direction for Writers® client, we read this poem together as a prayer and it was such perfect timing for my client and this particular season of her life. It’s also perfect for this political and cultural moment. If the poem doesn’t feel true to you right now, think of it as a psalm that you might pray for others when it’s not necessarily representative of your personal circumstances. But also, as Maya Angelou reminds us, “The truth is, one of us can't be free until everybody is free.”