THE STARRY NIGHT

I look at Van Gogh's Starry Night every day. From what I understand, he was in confinement for a mental condition when he painted this. The year was 1889.

I was in Johnstown, PA in May of 2000 for the 111th anniversary of the Johnstown Flood [May 31, 1889]. It was quite moving. I was seated in the theatre watching the disaster unfold at 3:15pm, the exact time the dam failed. Over 2000 luminery candles lined the breastwork of what was left of the dam. They planned to light them all at dusk. One for each soul lost that day. I didn't stay, but followed the path of the water into Johnstown itself.

The town was eerily vacant. There was a baseball game going on. Maybe that's where everyone was. No matter. I walked out to the point where the Little Conemaugh River and Stoney Creek merge. The epicenter of a tragedy. Just beyond the point is the stone bridge that backed-up and created a dam of debris that day. In the night the debris caught fire. Survivors thought it the fires of hell on earth. I think they were right.

From that point one gets a pretty good view of the city and the valley that delivered this strange being called Flood, that moved into everyone's life and altered their inner landscapes forever. Not hard to fill in the blanks. It was a humbling experience. Memorable. I went home.

The next morning I looked at Van Gogh again. But this time something hit me. Something strangely familiar. 1889. Perhaps it was just one of those coincidences. Perhaps, I was imagining things. Where was Van Gogh at the time? Did he know about this flood? Had he seen pictures? Because the valley in the painting is the one I had seen the day before. Were those clouds or roiling waters flowing down the mountain? Was that Johnstown? Was that towering black flame the fires of hell on earth that survivors talked about later? I don't know.

All I know is that when I see this painting, I see Johnstown. When I see it, I find myself believing that someone with roots in another world astral-traveled to a desperate town. Then that someone gathered the feel and the memory of that place and immortalized it in a painting. Maybe, maybe not. I just know what I see ...and I know how it feels.

PHOTO:

JOHNSTOWN 1889

BEFORE AND AFTER the BIGHORN FIRE: CATALINA STATE PARK

ARCHIVE: As hard as it was to see Mt. Lemmon in its altered state following the Bighorn Fire, it was even more difficult to see the changes done to the desert, especially our beloved saguaros. I went to Catalina State Park the day after I went up the mountain. That was two weeks ago. I am just now starting to post what I have seen. I’ve spent a lot of time looking through albums from earlier visits to the park, matching them up with post-fire photos. It has been tedious, but I also think it helped me to process the change. Sometimes you have to really look at something to be ok with it. So here is my before-after album. I will not be posting these all at once, but will add over time as I am still working on it. I will also be posting another album of scenes I can’t match up to ‘before’, photos to document what I’ve seen. Many thanks for letting me share this experience with you… PHOTOS are from February 2017, October 2019, April 2020, and August 2020.

TUCSON GEM & MINERAL SHOW TREASURES!

I was fortunate to experience Tucson's Annual Gem Show this year for the first time. I am not sure how a single town can handle all of that energy but it managed. For the whole scoop on the two week affair click here. Scattered among all of the vendors were some pretty amazing Earth Artists who work with gemstones and crystals producing some breath-taking results. Here are three of my favorites, and I share them with you with great enthusiasm. The first two brought me to tears and the third was simply a total inspiration.

I will let them speak for themselves:

1. Lawrence Stoller: CrystalWorks

His work is in an old Tucson home, bought and renovated just for this two week period. I found it by serendipity and was completely overwhelmed by the beauty and respect I saw/felt in there. These particular crystals were like his little babies, so much love and awareness had gone into each piece of art. Are ANY crystals in the WORLD cared for as much as these!?! I did not get to meet the artist but intend to write him a note of appreciation and gratitude for his respect for Mother Earth.

2. Pedro Jimenez III [Blue Elk]: Gemstone Kachinas and Carvings

Once again, by serendipity I walked into this area of the convention center and was bowled over by the energy and magnificence of what this native Peruvian artist had created. The kachinas and carvings are all made of different gemstones that have been purified with burning sage and each detail of the carvings has special meaning. Each one was very much ALIVE. I was able to thank the artist and let him know how their overwhelming beauty and power affected me. He was very sweet.

3. Mike Woodward: Gem Photography

Check out the "Abstract Stone Images" link at this artist's site. All of his work was printed on stretched canvas, and unframed. Some of it was huge and it was so impressive to see those little agate and crystal patterns bigger than life. I did not get to talk to the photographer as he was always busy and animated sharing his love with passers by. His product moved me in a different way than the other two. No tears, just extreme appreciation and inspiration. WOW!

Wish you could have been here but hopefully this will give you a little taste of the treasure that was findable at the show.

Enjoy!
Claire/Vimala

VIMALA AT FLICKR

Just to let you know that I'm posting my own art photos over on Flickr.

Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vimsplace

As I have the time, I will be posting a few select photos and commentary on how they came about over at my new PHOTO BLOG. Be sure to check it out. For now, here is one of my favorites:

"Fence Post"
taken in Harmony, PA

LEONARD PELTIER: THE ARTIST

"Beast of Beauty"

I did not know Leonard Peltier was an artist until I went to a pow-wow several years ago. A woman was selling prints of his work and I was totally amazed. The subject matter is most naturally Native American in theme but she pointed out something to me that endeared me to this artist. She showed me what she called before and after paintings. She pointed out the inner transformation of the man and how it was reflected in his art. It was quite obvious. Darks and shadow had given way to bright colors and light. And don't all of troubles stand to serve that purpose, of transforming us. Leonard Peltier is in prison for a crime he did not commit. He has reason to be bitter, but over time, he has found something deep and wonderful inside himself and it comes through in his work.

You can see some of Mr. Peltier's work and judge for yourself. Here is one of many links you'll find when you google Leonard Peltier Artist.

THE ARTWORK OF ANTONIO PURI

I love how the fates work. I was fortunate enough to discover abstract artist Antonio Puri by sheer luck and timing. I had just gotten my first computer and was checking all the ins and outs of life at Yahoo.com… one thing being, of course, the chat rooms. I am not sure how nor which chat room I stumbled into, at least by name. But I wandered in. I hung in the background a bit, but was soon engaged in the mindless drivel that happens in such places.

After a short while, the question arose of how many Gemini's there might be in the room. Amazingly, there were quite a few. Me being one of them. And Antonio being another. So we talked. He had never been in a chat room before. Was only in there for fun with a friend of his. Much like myself, they just happened to be there killing time. We talked about nonsense and eventually rolled around to "what do you do" and we thought how Gemini to both be artists of a sort. Me being a musician. And he a painter plus more.

He sent me over to his website where I discovered that he was indeed an artist and not just of the surface but truly of the soul. His childhood, spent at the base of the etheric Himalaya Mountains contributes to this spiritual dimension, no doubt. We vowed to take in each other's show sometime and left it at that.

We kept in touch for years, though not too much lately, but I have always enjoyed going over to his site and seeing what he’s been up too. I am pleased to see the recognition that has developed around his work. And I always love to see what his latest trends are. My favorite trend was a couple of years ago when he worked fervently with circles. Or should I say, Circle. Sphere. Infinity if you will. He had taken every imaginable combination of color, texture, shade, and line and applied them to this one magnificent, stalwart ring.

At the time, I had begun checking in at SOHO to see what was happening with the sun each day. Flares and filaments and coronal holes and such intrigued me. I was amazed at the similarities that I saw there. Had Antonio been inspired by these solar images? I emailed him a couple of the SOHO photographs and asked him. And though he said he had not seen them before, I got the distinct impression that our Antonio was indeed a Cosmic traveler and was picking up on old Sol on some level.

Those pages of Antonio’s site have been taken down since then. Kind of makes me sad. But I’m sure that wherever these particular works are and whoever has them… they are enjoying the privilege of looking at them each day.

There’s always more… but check out Antonio’s site for yourself, take in a show [which I have YET to do], and if you see him, give him my Gemini love… --Vim

THE ARTWORK OF ANTONIO PURI
paintings on this page are
"Mini Dharma 2" and "Mukti 5"

MONIKA DANNEMANN:
Artist of the Inner Light

CLICK HERE

I first encountered Monika Dannemann’s artwork in 1996; ironically, the same year she passed away. I was browsing through the bookstore at a local mall when a friend of mine placed a book into my arms. I looked down to find myself holding an oversized paperback entitled "The Inner World of Jimi Hendrix." I think I leafed through it and read only one or two paragraphs before I decided I had to take this book home with me. I bought it with my last $20 bill. I felt I could not afford to leave it there. It took only a glance to realize that this book contained not only the most amazing and mystical pictures of Jimi that I had ever seen, but also that the text contained the spiritual legacy of a great musician.

The book became a bible to me. I did not read it straight through but let myself wander through it at will, stopping where my heart so led. It was like water to a parched soul. The true greatness of Jimi Hendrix as a soul shown brilliantly through each page. And the book seemed almost alive as I would often find paintings in there that I had never seen before.

One such occasion was soon after the events of September 11, 2001. I felt drawn to check in with Jimi and Monika after that day. It just seemed they might offer some wisdom and comfort. I was totally amazed to find in there a painting with Jimi standing over the site of the World Trade Center in New York, a fist full of lightning bolts poised over his head. It seemed at some level Monika knew that these things might happen and painted in a timeless fashion. And it was almost as if the painting had dropped into the book overnight... a gift from the other side.

This particular painting gained even more significance to me this summer after hearing on a BBC news broadcast that a White Buffalo Calf had been born the first weekend of June 2005. The legend of the Sacred White Buffalo is something Jimi would have been aware of with his Cherokee roots. The birth of such a calf was prophesied by elders of the Plains Indians, and would indicate to the world that we had not been forgotten, that peace would come. I was drawn back to the painting because of this particular little calf’s ancestry.

Apparently, the calf’s grandfather was an award winning bull named Chief Joseph. This is significant all by itself as Chief Joseph was a great Native American leader who vowed at his capture that he would "fight no more forever." Not only that, but on the day the twin towers fell, this great bison bull was struck by lightning in a freak storm. He died two weeks later. The lightning is a prominent feature in Monika’s painting. From this tragedy one generation passed, then into the world, from the line of this great bull, comes a tiny symbol of hope. A Sacred White Buffalo Calf, born near Shelbyville, KY; coincidentally, between the villages of Bagdad and Old Christianburg.

She is a beauty. I feel certain that at some level, this painting foretold the events of 9/11 and the hope that would be born from it. It became even more certain for me when I learned of the name given to this Sacred White promise. Her name is Lightning!!!

photo by Greg S. Redhawk
(many thanks, Greg)