Charles Baxter: Against Epiphanies

A moment of light revelry in the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the MFA, Boston This following is an excerpt from an old (1997) Atlantic interview with Charles Baxter whose recently released collection of short stories is called Gryphon: Atlantic: In your essay “Against Epiphanies” you argue that a “character’s experiences in a story [don’t] have […]

Art and Health

Pyrre, from a new series of paintings (Graphite, gold pigment, wax medium on wood panel) Thoughts worth sharing by two artists I admire: *** Art is a guarantee of sanity. That is the most important thing I have said. –Louise Bourgeois *** What gets an artist out of bed is the possibility of actually making […]

Going with Unexplained

A view from The Donkey Show (Midsummer Night’s Dream meets 80’s disco) ____ Nature does not stop to grieve, an observation that since time began has either appalled or inspired the human beings who have made it. Poppies sprout in bloody battlefields, and birds sing outside death-room windows. On one hand, the big thing that […]

Thingness

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, featured in the film MANA: Beyond Belief, is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in Burma. Tradition claims that the boulder was placed on the cliff 2500 years ago by Burmese spirits. A gilded boulder sits on top and is believed to contain a hair of the Buddha. ______ This is a Wonderful Poem Come […]

Drift

We live in an age where pluralism and inclusiveness are the norm (Tea Party excluded), but disenfranchising divisions are still occurring. Music, visual art, poetry, prose, architecture—all the artistic métiers have within their creative borders a whole slew of tribes that speak their own patois. Look at the language barrier that exists between two people […]

The View Inside

Sloycha, from a recent series ______ As you unfold as an artist, just keep on, quietly and earnestly, growing through all that happens to you. You cannot disrupt this process more violently than by looking outside yourself for answers that may only be found by attending to your innermost feeling. –Rilke in Letters to a […]