Art in Heart and Earth

Jaine Toth

Write On…, the Robson Ranch writers workshop, begins most meetings with a writing challenge. On Aug. 5, there was a 5 minute exercise based on the following two quotations:

In my emerging consciousness, I realized the word art is smack dab in the middle of the word earth. I love that, especially since I am a bonafide rock hound! Working with stones gives me such joy and peace. Then it hit me! All art comes from the Earth. Lead, ink, pastels, paint, paper, cloth, wood, metal, clay—all of it—at one point or another, came from some part of the earth or the flora that grows on it. Indeed, the heart of art is in the earth!

—Kim Menillo, “The Heart of Art”

Take a look above you, discover the view. If you haven’t noticed, please do. Please do.

Kermit the Frog, Sesame Street

Some members took to the heart of art and some to the art in earth. Here are a few samples:

Art @ HeART

Suzanne Williams

The sidewalk was made for Kid Chalk Art.

Rigid Principal dictated: “DEPART”!

But art from the heart will not be contained

By authority’s futile attempts to constrain.

Art lives, art moves to LIBERATE.

And that is the end of our debate!

“Art in Earth”

Jaine Toth

Driving south on Hwy. 1, then down the 101 en route from Santa Cruz to Carpinteria, the couple giving me a lift home stopped several times to look more closely at things that caught their eyes: wildflowers at the roadside, rock formations, just to watch the waves lap the shore.

This was an eye-opening and mind-expanding experience. When my husband Don drove, it was usually point-to-point with as few stops as possible. I was so busy trying to keep the kids occupied that the scenery passed by in a blur.

Their awareness reminded me how much time I can spend staring at the sky through tree branches. As the clouds waft by, it’s like watching a painting come to life. Ditto for gazing at the flames of a campfire or fireplace. Mesmerized, I get lost in them. It’s as close to meditating as I’ve ever come. Everything clears from my mind, and I enter a place of deep quiet and comfort.

There is art at the heart of the earth.

“heART”

Judiann Lewinski

I am an artist. I paint a vast array of things on canvas, on wood, on rocks, on walls, on anything that doesn’t move out of my way.

My art comes from my heart, the bountiful never-ending stream of creating from a thought, a sight, a feeling.

Whether it’s a mural on a large wall or a tiny rock that calls out for a Kokopelli to be crafted on its face, I paint it with a great internal joy and a fulfillment to my spirit.

My love of creating knows no limits or bounds. The feelings just pour out into colors and swirls that may become flowers, or horses, or beauty of some type. But each creation is a part of my heART and individually made with love.

Would you like to try and play with words with us? Come check us out. We meet the first and third Friday of each month at 10:30 a.m. in the Fireside Room of the Ranch House. For information, contact Jaine Toth at [email protected] or 520-350-3966.