Quis esse terrestris et caelum divinitus
Essen omen vestrum sacrarum et sanctum
Posse domus vestrum certus constare auxilium de vesta
Operae tuum nil nihili esse in orbis et nil orbis terrarium
Et caelum divinitus
Posse dies in dies valerent pascere ipse
Veniam dare ipse de delictam tuum
Vel quando to nihil est veniam dare
Nil sequi in ille illecebra quorum detrimentum capere ad nos
Et liberare ipse ab malus quit latere
Oberat de domus memorium caderatum et ille facultas
Curatum esse pro hoc iterum per recordari qui cogitatum deperam
Ille verba fiam manifestus iterum
~N.A. Jones
Our family
Who are on earth and in the heavens
Hallowed and sacred are thy names
May your homes be established
With help for your hearth
Thy efforts of establishment are never wasted
May each day you be fed
With help for your hearth
May you forgive yourself of your trespasses
As you forgive others of theirs
Forgive others of their trespasses
Even when you do not forgive yourself
Forgive others of their debts
Even when you may not be forgiven of your own
Lead us not into the temptation of accepting that which would harm us
And deliver us out of the hands of the evil that lurks
For you have the heritage of a home forgotten
And the ability to care for it again
By remembering what you though had disappeared
The words will manifest again.
~N.A Jones
The pain in my right side speaks the language of a daemon. In the throes of falling into sleep he sounds off before I reach dreams. His insistent calls to write, draw, paint, and quilt have maintained the night for months. I basically ignored the pain until three weeks ago. There it was. Everything I had denied since All Hallow’s Eve stood at bedside asking me to work. Up until then, I felt comfortable denying anything and everything. In my mind the competition quilts came first. My plan was to strictly work with them until they are completed for entry. Nothing, but nothing is getting in the way of that groove to walk to exhibition. Despite sounding off to the dark from my reclining soapbox that I was busy, the petitions did not end. After two weeks of flirting with the notion and three days of planning, I am here before you with a job I must complete to save my mortal soul. The “notion” that was in 2004 while working on my M.F.A. show has now become a beast and a demanding one at that. The “notion”, at the time, was to follow suit with a contemporary trend in assemblage called reliquaries. I had plans. I had big plans. Book installations, mock family relics, and encrusted detail kept my mind in a state of fascination for months. Months of enamor did not follow a schedule of deadlines. So, in 2004 by the show’s installation, the reliquaries did not happen. Neither did they occur in succeeding years. My life took another direction. Studio art was put on hold. My mind followed another path.
The cycle of seasons is powerful. The energy that draws and ebbs around certain calendar days can be overwhelming. Autumn is when the energy recedes and the wind is heard around and through the house. I take store in hibernation that stills activity both mentally and physically. As a result of a mindful stillness, we eventually come to know decay and death again. By mid-fall, I become mindful of ancestors and extended family. The work they leave and the passions they instill in progeny are resurrected during the lighting of an inner fire during All Hallow’s Eve. Creativity is one of the fires that keep me whole during autumn. I pour my memories through hand-crafted vision. This October the pull was painful. Answering spirit is where I have been for two months. Remembering the reliquaries has quieted my daemon’s argument. Well, at least as long as I work to answer spirit. I can say that I do not worship ancestors. However, I do know I have healing to do regarding death. For me, working through mourning and mortality has always come in fit and starts. Starting this journey again is more than worth writing. I will be blogging as I plan, write, and execute the small forms constructions. Reliquaries and quilts may frame my 2018 schedule tightly. For you I wish a year full of strategic creation. Try to finish at least two planned projects before year’s end. Feeling accomplished by 2019 may make a difference in your professional and personal life.
~As ever, stay hungry and curious.