art + life

when Kevin and Nicki were planning to get married, Troy came to visit us. we were so curious--who was this woman Kev was marrying? Troy told us of the troubles she was having at the Christian school, how people thought she was a crazy feminist environmentalist. i said, i think i'll like her; she sounds like me! then Troy laughed out loud and said, you're not an environmentalist!

so maybe it's not a surprise that i was most drawn to the art parts of the Reece article. mostly to this one line that rubbed me the wrong way:

To raise one's experiences to the level of art is to make them worthy of contemplation.

no, no! life is always already worthy of contemplation. and the making of art isn't something that happens on some other level. this sort of separation between our experience and art is the same split that let's us imagine ourselves as separate from nature. the same motion that leaves our churches empty of poems.

i've been reading bits and snatches of The Maytrees after Mabel falls asleep for her nap. it's so rich! in just a page or two, my mind is full, spinning with Dillard's words and the crazy way she turns a phrase. one of the blurbs in the back of the book says, Annie Dillard is one of those people who seems to be more fully alive than most of us. but you know what? she gets to be just as alive as me. true, she has found a habit of being that nourishes her spirit and work, and she knows her craft. but she's exactly as alive as we each get to be.

here's to a new year full of contemplation. full of walks outside at twilight with crows overhead. full of books and glasses of wine and ideas and bold beginnings. full of sketches and songs and notebooks. full of bread rising and children growing.

alive. awake. full.