Centering Down and Growing Edges

We often hear about the competitiveness of the art world. It can seem like there are very few elite and not room for many at the top.

Another way to view things is that art is one of the most democratic ways of sharing ideas and offering new perspectives.  Creative practice, artist collectives and images are created to move people, to express ideas; artists bring life to common spaces and spark conversations.

In these times of change, uncertainty and unrest, I invite you to look around for creative messages. It might be signs at a protest march, symbols of hope and connection in neighbors windows or words of a favorite author. I would love to hear what is inspiring you and helping you to see things in new ways. Email me at kathrynconeway@gmail.com
 

Centering and Growth 

How Good to Center Down!

By Howard Thurman

How good it is to center down!

To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!

The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;

Our spirits resound with clashing, with noisy silences,

While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull.

With full intensity we seek, ere thicket passes, a fresh sense of order in our living;

A direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion and bring meaning in our chaos.

We look at ourselves in this waiting moment—the kinds of people we are.

The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives?—what are the motives that order our days?

What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go? Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused? For what end do we make sacrifices?

Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?

What do I hate most in life and to what am I true? Over and over the questions beat upon the waiting moment.

As we listen, floating up through all of the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind—

A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.

It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are answered,

Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round

With the peace of the Eternal in our step.

How good it is to center down!

For the last couple months, I have been spending time with these words by Howard Thurman. I learned of this poem through an on-line retreat that can be found at this link: Center Down Retreat

Initially, the words were a comfort as I coped with being home, mourning cancellations in my own life and listening to my children through their losses. In the past two weeks, the sense of mourning has deepened as I face the loss of black lives and the loss of an illusion that we are all in this together as black and brown communities suffer greater losses both to COVID-19 and to police brutality that reflects our society's systemic racism.  The existential questions listed in the poem become louder in my mind as I wonder what is my role, what is my best work, how do I help?  

I'm grateful for Thurman's words and find myself returning to them to remember that asking the questions may be most important now. 

This newsletter is a bit different as I will share some of the resources that I am listening to in the last few weeks. I hope they may inspire you in your journey and listening as well. I welcome your thoughts and inspirations too. Email me at kathrynconeway@gmail.com
 

Art that Reflects our Times and Raises Questions

Looking at art can also be a powerful part of raising awareness of racism and calling for needed change. The For Freedoms Project founded by Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman is one example.
This body of work includes multiple versions of images that focus on freedom from fear, freedom from want, freedom of worship, freedom of speech.  Families can view the series, "Four Freedoms" created by Norman Rockwell in 1941 and reflect on how the recreated versions made by the For Freedoms Project both signify and call for change. 

Resources Inspired by the Children's Literature Community

For young children, I think it is as important what we teach directly as what we model in the books we read and the resources we share. Who are they seeing represented and in what roles?
I recently discovered a wonderful series on YouTube called Making Space by Black author and illustrator Christian Robinson. Robinson has a new book out this month called “You Matter.” I was delighted to discover this series created from his home studio during the time of quarantine because so much of it is in line with what I love about the value of creativity for children.
Each episode focuses on a big idea, includes a creative project he makes with simple materials and ties to a book at the end. Many of the books are ones Robinson illustrated. It is a gift to get to see Robinson working in his studio and sharing thoughts about creative practice, such as how limits can open up creativity. For young children and anyone interested in more creative projects in this time at home, the Making Space videos offer an inside look into a prominent illustrator’s process. 
 

Growing Edge Podcast with Carrie Newcomer and Parker Palmer

I often listen to podcasts while I create art and my favorites are podcasts that feature conversations. It gives me the feel of having other voices around the table with me as I work.
These last few months a great source of inspiration has been The Growing Edge Podcast by Carrie Newcomer and Parker Palmer. The two most recent episodes have been particularly influential:
Episode 21 Gardening in the Dark includes a beautiful poem by Marge Piercy, as well as reflections on what it means to plant seeds and wait for growth in uncertain times. 
Episode 22 Revolutionary Love - A Conversation With Author/Activist Valarie Kaur features an activist who speaks of times of darkness not as a tomb but as a womb, encouraging us to breathe and continue to push toward what wants to be born through us. On The Growing Edge website, I recently discovered that this project is also inspired by the wisdom of Howard Thurman from the quote below.  

“All around us life is dying and life is being born. The fruit ripens on the tree, the roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth against a time when there shall be new leaves, fresh blossoms, green fruit. 
Such is the growing edge!

This is the basis of hope in moments of despair, the incentive to carry on when times are out of joint and dreams whiten into ash. The birth of the child—life’s most dramatic answer to death—this is the growing edge incarnate.
Look well to the growing edge!”

— HOWARD THURMAN (AUTHOR, EDUCATOR, & CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER)
From The Growing Edge Podcast