Wow, this is beautiful, Katarina. All of it. The story of Dorothy and Herb and their intentional collecting and generosity (and solidarity with working class folks), and the meditation on Audrey Stone's art. I learned so much in this short piece!
"Refuge" is a word and concept I think about a lot. I aspire to offer refuge in various forms: physical, offering a place for people to gather or stay when needed; emotional, offering a listening ear and heart when people need to express; spiritual, when people simply need someone to witness their journey and struggles and celebrations. What does it mean to accept it is a great question... I don't have a quick response and would love to meditate on that.
Thank you for this thoughtful response to the post. I also think about taking refuge from a Buddhist perspective, but accepting refuge feels somewhat different, more vulnerable…though now I wonder why I think that?
This piece is stunning! I'm so not an art person but that radiant, changing orange reminds me a bit of this light sculpture I saw at the Getty earlier this year by Helen Pashgian, which uses shifts of light and optical illusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oXSg4_K6iM
My first thoughts on this prompt took me back to the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie outside Red Cloud, Nebraska. When I visited a couple of years ago, I was struck by its quiet beauty—vast, open, and undeveloped. It felt like a sanctuary, a refuge in the truest sense. Standing there, I imagined how this very landscape once offered refuge to a young Willa Cather, giving her space to dream and create. From that solitude came novels that still sustain us more than a century later- and the prairie remains.
This is beautiful, Sheila. I’m glad the prairie is still there to offer refuge to all who visit. (Btw, I might be planning a special Cather evening in 2027 out in Lamy, NM in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Death Comes to the Archbishop.)
Wow, this is beautiful, Katarina. All of it. The story of Dorothy and Herb and their intentional collecting and generosity (and solidarity with working class folks), and the meditation on Audrey Stone's art. I learned so much in this short piece!
"Refuge" is a word and concept I think about a lot. I aspire to offer refuge in various forms: physical, offering a place for people to gather or stay when needed; emotional, offering a listening ear and heart when people need to express; spiritual, when people simply need someone to witness their journey and struggles and celebrations. What does it mean to accept it is a great question... I don't have a quick response and would love to meditate on that.
Thank you for this thoughtful response to the post. I also think about taking refuge from a Buddhist perspective, but accepting refuge feels somewhat different, more vulnerable…though now I wonder why I think that?
This piece is stunning! I'm so not an art person but that radiant, changing orange reminds me a bit of this light sculpture I saw at the Getty earlier this year by Helen Pashgian, which uses shifts of light and optical illusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oXSg4_K6iM
I love her work so much! Thank you for sharing the link. I need to write about her work at some point soon!
My first thoughts on this prompt took me back to the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie outside Red Cloud, Nebraska. When I visited a couple of years ago, I was struck by its quiet beauty—vast, open, and undeveloped. It felt like a sanctuary, a refuge in the truest sense. Standing there, I imagined how this very landscape once offered refuge to a young Willa Cather, giving her space to dream and create. From that solitude came novels that still sustain us more than a century later- and the prairie remains.
This is beautiful, Sheila. I’m glad the prairie is still there to offer refuge to all who visit. (Btw, I might be planning a special Cather evening in 2027 out in Lamy, NM in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Death Comes to the Archbishop.)
The Vogels, rare, rare birds, embody the best of what art collecting should be. Bless them