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THE LIGHTBOX: THEMES IN ART AND INSIGHT

About the Lightbox

Dealing with depths and darkness through Art

Dealing with depths and darkness through Art

There are times when life takes us down. We feel either beaten down, or fallen, or abandoned, or defeated or overwhelmed by grief and other hard feelings. Without ever wanting to, we end up walking through times when the answers aren't easy. Sometimes, there are no answers. There may be a time of relative isolation from others, or from the typical workaday world. Or maybe, everything that made sense before, no longer makes sense. Instead of striding through life, we become wa

Aesthetics and Anaesthesia

Aesthetics and Anaesthesia

The famous social catalyst Caroline Casey says that when we lose our senses we are also untouched by beauty. I had never considered that there was a relationship between "aesthetics" and its not-at-all obvious counterpart, "anaesthesia." I speak to this connection because like many people, I was just another busy yuppy trying to support my kids, pay the bills and make a life when the staggering events of 9-11 turned my neighborhood and my dreams into dust. No clients were cal

Planetary Art

Planetary Art

The greatest gift of art is to inspire love. Not just romantic love, which is terrific; but a deeper love, a kind of appreciation for beauty and order. This brings me to an odd category i call, "Planetary Art." By this, I mean the careful placement and construction of certain forms that we know are like battery charging stations of planet Earth. There is something awe-inspiring about the power of a place like Grianan of Alleach, an ancient stone circle in County Donegal whose

Art for Community Healing

Art for Community Healing

"Like lighting a fire in the middle of a frozen night," asserts community artist Lily Yeh, "art can bring a blighted community back to life." She should know. Yeh has worked in the slums of Philadelphia, in the backyards of Kenya, in the killing fields of Rwanda, and in forgotten villages of Taiwan to take what has been broken down or tossed aside and convert it into a focal point of beauty. She first became known for an amazing project in Philadelphia that is now called the

Creating Anew

Creating Anew

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of every day life.” -- Pablo Picasso While the word "art" does conjure images of paintings or sculptures by the greats, a key driving purpose for this blog is to identify and raise to light artistic processes that permeate life, or can if we choose to let them. The process of clearing a table, or a worktable, and focusing just on making one thing sets up a way of both accessing one's inspiration and translating it immediately into form

Art and Order

Art and Order

"God geometrizes" says the adage from "The Old Commentary," -- an esoteric work by Helena Blavatsky. This short phrase speaks to the power of art to convey order. Not just any order, but a kind of proportion that lends grace and strength to a construction, or an idea. What's more, our senses are particularly benefitted by certain kinds of proportions contained in nature, in the dimensions of the human body, and in mathematical calculations of certain kinds. These are known, a

Art and the Sacred

Art and the Sacred

We've all seen it somewhere: a serene Buddha in a garden or entryway, creating a sense of sanctity even if we know nothing of the Buddha or his teachings. Some part of us recognizes sacred space, even if we're not interested in it. In some art forms - music, sculpture, dance, ceremonial garb, or imagery, just to name a few - our senses are changed and thus change our behavior. There is a kind of impression that alters our attention in a positive way. We are quiet, entering a

Awakening the art of noticing

Awakening the art of noticing

I remember the first time I was taken to a museum. I was about 9, I went with my mother to the Museum of Fine Art in Houston; and we walked through the main gallery, without speaking much, and then into subsequent galleries. I saw landscapes and portraits, some modern things that didn't make sense to me then; and medieval icons that also seemed odd and flat. There were religious themes and scholarly symbols. I remember that some were darkened by time and others bright. But t

Visionary Art, Part Two: Art as catalyst

Visionary Art, Part Two: Art as catalyst

I have always been a visionary. I may have inherited this quality, if that's possible, from my father, who could foresee systems and transportation, all kinds of public services that would provide greater ease and equality of standards of living. He knew where highways should go; he inspired his city to install a new flood control system to improve safety in poor neighborhoods. He often -- with his visions - overlooked the details of daily life but definitely saw the future.

Moving "Art" beyond the page

Moving "Art" beyond the page

I did a sketch a few years ago about the impact of flowers upon me; but also then i was contemplating how flowers were impacted by light, and then in turn, their presence impacted my blood cells, and then in turn, how the purity of that overall emanation and relationship impacted certain bodies of water i was interacting with. Yes, we're not in Kansas anymore. In this brief portrait, i was trying to show through art the subtle and yet world changing nature of relationship. Mo

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"Lightbox" is a way to put themes into the light so that we can slow down and reap the understanding of subtle and powerful relationships between art, our psyches, and our communities.

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