Grace

I have been reading an old issue of the Parabola that explores Grace, Gifts bestowed from Above (Volume 27, No.3, Fall 2002)


from The Burn, ©Jane Fulton Alt


In an article titled Through Beauty by Rebecca Robison, she states,

“In attempting to render the forms of the world transparent to the transcendent, an artist looks at things not as the things themselves but as manifestations of mystery. When we begin to see an “it” as a “thou” our experience changes: the beauty of everything touches us and lifts us to a higher place. When we become so inspired by the glory around us that we attempt to express ourselves creatively, we find that “art attunes the soul to God.” Suddenly, in the creative act, we become so totally absorbed and fascinated that minutes and hours pass by without another thought. We are completely immersed in the present moment, oblivious to time and place, forgetful of our very self. The creation of art can release us from our individual everyday desires and intentions so that we become a unique expression of something that is not of our self or of nature. This creative act, in which the source of beauty flows forth, is the middle space beyond oppositions, a central holy place of the Absolute that forms all turning points. From here, outside of time, the grace of transformation enters into us and passes through us. Only the center unfolds the turning point of transition and transformation.



from The Burn, ©Jane Fulton Alt


It cannot be looked for and cannot be held; in every moment it is creation from nothingness as pure present, independent of the past as well as the future. The artist who turns and is transformed is a medium through which the divine passes and thus becomes its interpreter of symbols and expressions.


from The Burn, ©Jane Fulton Alt


The creative process is generation and birth as well as transformation and rebirth. The perpetual self-renewal and the dependence on grace of the person who opens to create are a human parallel to the eternal rebirth of all that is created. The rapture of the flowing deathlessness of creativity is just as much a work in man as nature; indeed, it is only in our creative flowing that we become a part of nature."

(Erich Neumann, Art and the Creative Unconsciousness (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974) p.202.)

what once was

this was my world...

Getting ready to take leave, again. A few parting shots from Ragdale...











now go and apply!

One Year Ago

I still have HOPE and I still have FAITH.

with love and gratitude

The Burn, Fall 2009

As my time is coming to a close at Ragdale, I am so, so grateful to all the people who make a place like this exist. Friday I stopped by the Barn house to retrieve some items from my room and the dining table was filled with staff. I was initially very surprised because usually it is the residents having a delicious dinner there created by chef Linda. As I left, I marveled at how many people it takes to support this endeavor. And what an endeavor it is! I have been working on several projects. Yesterday was an undistracted 10 hour day of culling thru images. What an incredible luxury. NO DISTRACTIONS! And I got to listen to Paul Simon all day (thanks to Alden's play lists). A deep, deep appreciation to the staff, the board of directors and all who contribute to create such an amazing, magical place.

The Burn, Fall 2009

St. John of the Cross

Again, another entry from Bill Viola's note book writings, Reasons for Knocking on An Empty House. Here is a poem by Spanish poet St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)
He was imprisoned for nine months in 1577 in a cell, unable to stand or see any day light. He wrote many poems while there.

To reach satisfaction in all,
desire its possession in nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all, desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.
To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing.

To come to the pleasure you have not,
you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.
To come to the knowledge you have not,
you must go by a way in which you know not.
To come to the possession you have not,
you must go by a way in which you possess not.
To come to be what you are not,
you must go by a way in which you are not.

When you turn toward something,
you cease to cast yourself upon the all.
For to go from the all to the all,
you must leave yourself in all.
And when you come to the possession of all,
you must possess it without wanting anything.

In this nakedness the spirit finds its rest,
for when it covets nothing,
nothing raises it up,
and nothing weighs it down,
because it is in the center of its humility.

___ St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

WWNO: Jane Fulton Alt's New Book "Look and Leave: Photographs and Stories From New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward" (2010-01-13)

WWNO: Jane Fulton Alt's New Book "Look and Leave: Photographs and Stories From New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward" (2010-01-13)