Remembering. Mililtary Veterans and Gun Violence Victims

Beltane and the Living in the Mountains Moon

art@willwordsworth

Monday gratefuls: Alan, turning 70. Veggie Burgers.  Kippas. The Wild Animal Sanctuary. South Koreans rescuing Moon Bears. Kep’s wooooah. Felix, wanting to be appreciated. Oscar, oblivious. Deb. Robbie. Tal. Acting lessons. Kura: The Prophetic Messenger. Eco-Mutualism. Adopting a grizzly. The Land Institute. Aldo Leopold. Ira Progoff. Life review.

Sparks of Joy and Awe: The Wild Animal Sanctuary.

Tarot: Page of Stones, The Lynx

key words-study and scholarship, school, apprenticeship, starting out, reflection, meditation, observing other people

 

 

Brett Sayles

Just had a thought. How about making Memorial Day celebrations include all the people who’ve given their lives to gun violence? Veterans of all the violence in which our country plays a role. I actually think this could be a thing. How could we make this happen?

 

Buddy and acting partner Alan turns 70 today. We’re almost off book with our scene from the Odd Couple. Got a long ways yesterday over veggie burgers at his place overlooking the Continental Divide. He did two turns as the Burgemeister in a ballet put on by the Colorado Ballet Academy on Saturday.

 

Jon seems to have turned a corner for now. Makes me happy. Gabe’s coming up for a couple of days at the end of the week. Ruth’s struggling again.

 

Kura: The Prophetic Messenger

Still reading Overstory, almost done. Also the wonderful book Ode gifted to me, Kura: The Prophetic Messenger. This book details the conceptual and handwork by craftspersons and artists to create this sculpture. This article gives a precis of the project.

Bresnahan is a prophetic messenger himself. This work combines three distinct cultures: Japanese, Benedictine, and First Nation. The latter two reflect the uses of the land on which the sculpture sits. The first represents Bresnahan’s roots in a four apprenticeship in Japanese style pottery making and thought.

A kura was a storage building for precious items especially in the Edo period, but got its shape and function from structures used to save the rice harvest in ancient Japan. The Benedictines built St. John’s Monastery and college on land previously used by First Nation’s people.

Inside the Kura Bresnahan placed seed jars containing seeds of the Three Sisters: beans, squash, corns. He also had a scroll created of the Rule of St. Benedict. By hand and illustrated. All of these reside in clay pots created and fired by the St. John’s Pottery. Once placed in the metal Kura, dried wild rice hulls went in as insulation and protection.

The Prophetic Messenger is a symbolic horse Bresnahan uses on much of his work. “The carving of the Prophetic Messenger in my clay works is a reminder that asks me, Are you on the right path? I carve it in different clay forms and each time it reminds me of my own journey to all of this. Are you abusing the land? or materials? Are you abusing the community? It reminds me to work in a way that plans for generations into the future.”  p.17, Kura: The Prophetic Messenger.