Lead By Imagination

What to do with all those empty plastic water bottles collected in the recycle bin when you are feeling a little bit creative and need a project? Or you need some quick, fun decoration for a party? Art on display at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans.

While visiting New Mexico in October, I met Arthur Manchego at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. I found his booth inside the interior courtyard at the IPCC and spoke with him about his work. Manchego is a man of few words. His work speaks volumes. One of the few purchases I made in NM is what Manchego referred to as one of his "quick sketches," and I loved this original drawing for the emotions reflected in the soft contours of the face, entitled "Horse Killer." (Top) The other portraits on display he had taken much more time to complete, and his skill as an artist highlights exacting detail. "Red Earth" (above) is a giclee print I had to take home with me, as well. The motion of line and color pulsate to the rhythm in my head as the rich colors compete with one another to move forward and back on the paper, just like the dancers I watched perform in the circle of the IPCC while I spoke to Menchego. Ka Whe Tewa ("here there ...

When imagination and genius meet, I cannot tell the difference. Forming living space within the living space of a forest mimics rock ledges reaching out over the flow of a rushing stream. The water provides soft acoustics, both audible and visual. Every view of this home bears witness to the vision of the man who imagined it could be so.

You may note that the date for Ever Imagine , shows 2007. Yesterday (meaning any day before today, but not more than say a week ago), I logged in to this blog site and posted Ever imagine . Today is 2014, and obviously "yesterday" could not have been 2007. Yet, that's what the date shows. I imagined the date as 2007, maybe. And today I imagine this is 2014. Let's say I'm right. I had a dream last night about little Germans inside a television. Really wee tiny Germans. They looked military-like or at least governmental. The Germans appeared after the Bishop finished speaking, but was still leading a tour around his offices without realizing that his camera continued to send images to those of us at the online meeting. When we shouted at our screen to let him know we could still see and hear him, the image changed to the tiny Germans. The Germans annoyed me with their marching and ordering one another about. I wanted to see if they could hear or see me. Sin...

"Sleep, perchance to dream." And in dreaming the imagination lives unfettered by mores, physics, or boxes. We can let a little dream into the daily life we call reality. If in  my dream, what appears in the dream sequence feels real, i believe that when i'm wakeful all that i conjure in my imagination can be real. Art allows for imagination on the canvas or sketchbook page or on the back of cereal box. Written stories and even written non-fiction on a page or screen flow from my head to your head, popping up inside your mind with complete images to define better than words what i have imagined. Like the liquid that flows at Yellow Stone Park geysers to create images that appear in the blink of an eye and disappear almost as quickly. A camera captures the lines, shapes, and beautiful juxtaposition of colors. Without the stop frame of that moment, what has been created changes, leaving no trace of the original.