"Begats and the Begottens" (for Florence Sumner)

"Volunteers and donors are transforming the
hospital experience. Lives are saved, new techniques
are implemented, grieving families are comforted."
Donald K. Jonas, Ph.D.
From "Difference Makers"
Message from the Director
"Extreme Makeover: Presbyterian Hospital Edition"
Read entire article here: file:///private/var/tmp/folders.501/TemporaryItems/com.apple.mail.drag/Fall%202009%20PHF%20Newsletter.pdf



Jack Matney Memorial Labyrinth
Presbyterian Hospital. Charlotte NC
Photo by In2Wit © 2007 Thoughtful Information Design

I love to read the begats of Biblical stories, mythological tales, and historical genealogies. They are like equations to me: lifelines of understanding that lead to logical conclusions. Complex, but not complicated.
Direct access to answers. To solutions.

Read one fascinating book here.

Weisiger Chapel
Sculptural Altar wall in memory of Allen Bigelow
Presbyterian Hospital. Charlotte NC
Photo by In2Wit © 2007 Thoughtful Information Design

But life is not that simple, is it?
We have Pacts and Pax and PACs and Packs of personal and cultural History that we carry with us as if we are all clones of the great Atlas -
the awesome weight of the whole world upon our shoulders.
Powerful burdens that drag us down in our life journeys.

Prayer Sculpture "A Day of Remembrance"
In conjunction with Presbyterian Hospice and Palliative Care
and a grant from The Arts and Science Council.
Presbyterian Hospital. Charlotte NC
Photo by In2Wit © 2007 Thoughtful Information Design

Florence Sumner ( wonderful friend of my Mother, Jane Schulz) believed that it was much simpler than that. Florence lived by the Law of Love - actualizing the idea that one persons attentive detailing of love in action could, and would, make a
positive difference.
Florence took the abstract idea of empathetic response and made it concrete.
She gathered up the lost that gathered upon her doorstep and brought them into
Her Home.

Play Video at lower arrow.

"Trying to Connect" © 2008

Random Video

From "The Systemic Amazement Factorial"©

Today. This week.
Contact
the ones you love and tell them,
"I love you"
and
"I wish you success, in what ever form that may take".
Call in love. Call for Florence. Call because we have so very little time in this
plane of existence.

"Our Precious Selves"

"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head

without any other consideration."

Frida Kahlo

"Fractal Fireflies #18 - Human Kindness"
(Emergence Theory Subset)© 2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

What sower cast about the seeds that
germinated into our "Precious Self"?
Were we given it all of a once?
Or have we pruned and grafted: splintered and spliced -
cropped, snipped and dead-headed an identity?
Espaliered and anchored our existence
along a wall of some reality?

"Fractal Fireflies #20 (Emergence Theory Subset)"© 2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

Perhaps we picked up scraps along the way,
gluing up a collage of defining moments.
Then editing with safety scissors
and now
with the sharpest of blades.

“There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.”
George Matthew Adam


When I was a kid, I liked to look at the world through the wrong end of a telescope.
Here is a version of something I saw:

Shifting Light and Sensibilities

"Did it take long to find me? I asked the faithful light.
Did it take long to find me?"

Yusuf Islam "Moon Shadow"

"Morning, Manchester NH" © 2006

From "The Systemic Amazement Factorial"©

As I stand before an empty canvas, a blank piece of paper,
a back-lit screen.
a length of interstate,

"Fractal Fireflies #17 (Emergence Theory Subset)"© 2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

A situation, a human being -
You.

I think, "What is it that I want to say?"

"Afternoon, New Britain, CT" © 2008

From "The Systemic Amazement Factorial"©

In my more lucid moments,
I reach beyond my expectations, and ask myself,

"What am I being told?"

There begins the Dialogue.

"Fractal Fireflies #16 (Emergence Theory Subset)"© 2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

"Lo, in our eyes the teardrops start,
we swim in stormy seas:
Hast Thou within Thine Ample heart,
No shelter for the sons of art,
No room for such as these?"
The Artist in Church

Lord Vyet and Other Poems
Arthur Christopher Benson

Human Invention / Human Intervention

In my practice as an artist, I view energy not only as a resource for making things,
but also as a vital thread linking call and response.

"Fractal Fireflies #19 (Emergence Theory Subset)"©
2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

I see space as a stage in which existence transpires.
But additionally,
I am interested in the composition of sets of existence
and how they relate and interact on that stage.

M-611© 2009 Carrie Schulz

And even while time is embraced as a dimension, I see it also

as series of overlapping waves that contain the very essence of process.

"Fractal Fireflies #21 - 7AM/7PM
(Emergence Theory Subset)"© 2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

I see process, then, as more than the making of a particular work of art.
I see the magnificent process containing multiple Histories,
speculation, public discourse, debate and critique.

Walker Hall, University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas 2007
Machado and Silvetti, Architects

I see the process as being receptive enough to contain joy,
myriad questions, concerns, outrage and the outrageous.

This is how I see Art as Life.
Life as Art.

It is what I see,
when I see You.

"Excuse me, Justice is Served"

"Why be just in a universe that is largely unjust?"

Lawrence Kohlberg

(October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987)

"Our Guernica" (detail, "This is Art")©                                2006
Interactive Mural (currently located at Sanctuary Bar, Charlotte, NC)
Visual dialogue between artists Tom Schulz and Isaac Schulz.

Kohlberg used the idea of a child's proximodistal development (from the center outward)
to illustrate the concept of a human relatedness
that might ultimately evolve into the individual's
consideration of the welfare of others.

Many years earlier, Galileo developed a similar model of our solar system, but his heliocentric constructs were condemned by the Roman Inquisition in 1632.

Now, Stephen Hawking refers to this awareness of centrality to be the birth of Modern Science.

Such is the spiral of human awareness.

"Mosaic" (installation view)©                               2007

Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH

We ache to discover a center. 

The center is our Point of Beginning - from which the measure of all interactions may be calculated.

"At the Zoo" ©                                                                         2006

From "The Systemic Amazement Factorial"©

But, it may be prudent to work under the premise that there is more than one center. That there are as many centers as there are aspirations. 

As many centers as there are tears.

And that these centers overlap in the big moment.

"Fractal Fireflies #12 (Prayer Abacus)"©               2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

It is in the intersections of these overlapping centers that reside 

the most complex pattern of human relatedness. 

Here, the interactive connectedness of kindness may take hold,

Here, we may find solace in the invigorating comfort of shared narratives.  

For within this tapestry of histories is tenderly woven our own particular story.

Our story that need be shared to be heard.

"The idea here is to give people a new vocabulary, to speak in terms of resilience."

DR. MARTIN SELIGMAN, on a new Army program requiring that all 1.1 million of its soldiers take training meant to head off mental health problems.

NY Times 8/18/09

Read article here.

Where is your center, human?

"Striangulation"

"No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice."

President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

"Fractal Fireflies #15 (Prayer Abacus)"© 2009

From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"

"Codependents believe they are somehow more capable than others who need their direction or suggestions to fulfill tasks they are responsible to complete."

Read more here.

Bronxscape - Construction Detail 2008

Parsons School of Design

Roof top "oasis" at a home for assisted living. A gathering space for those individuals that have 'aged' out of foster care.

I imagine that future Historians will have a field day analyzing what I refer to as our current World Situation. Perhaps they will weigh out our intentions. Critique our problem solving skills. Certainly they will document the many ways that we (as a Global Civilization) tended to hold onto that which we Know. I wouldn't be surprised if that tendency will be viewed not as respect for tradition, but as fear based decision making.

"Portal Study, Micro/Macro" © 2008

From the Spidey-Hole Series - Bloated Geometries

As we insist on maintaining our Mechanistic concepts of relatedness, we will always see our government, our jobs, our obligations and our responsibilities as something outside of our Selves. We will see the pattern of our lives in the classic model of triangulation. In this regard, we become a Codependent Nation.

Yet, we thrive within our communities. Our Book Clubs. Our ball teams. At our family gatherings. Openings. Concerts. We thrive with our friends, within the creativity of our hobbies and avocations.
Our Faiths, our Questions, and our Dreams.

I suspect that we can adjust to bouncing interest rates and meager rationing.
It may be possible that we can even live with diminished Hopes.
But Joy?

We can not. We must not.
Live without Joy.

"Toe River - Celo, NC" © 2009

From "The Systemic Amazement Factorial"©

Empathinc. understands that many topics included within this blog are taxing.

So.

Here is a quiet space. Please view this short bit of footage.

Experience the complexity of textures and sound, as you care to.

I'll put on some tea.

On the Nature of Deliberate Spaces

"Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again."
Joseph Campbell


"Prayer Wall" (detail) ©2008
Presbyterian Hospital, Charlotte, NC


"We have not been on a linear path of uninterrupted growth and prosperity.
We have successes and setbacks, fits and starts, and every now and then,
visionaries radically alter our trajectory."
Donald K. Jonas, Ph.D., Vice President, Novant Healthcare & Executive
Director, Presbyterian Hospital Foundation

From: CharlotteViewPoint, Volume 6. Read entire article here

Photo: ©2009 Mary deWit
Courtyard - Jack Matney Labyrinth: Presbyterian Hospital, Charlotte NC


As an artist, I am an advocate for the radical implementation of connectedness.
As a human, I am an advocate for the radical implementation of awareness.
As an artist, I believe that composition is essential as the art of arranging.
As a human, I believe that the field of existence is enormous.



Photo: ©2009 Mary deWit
"Prayer Wall" - sculpture and words by Tom Schulz ©2008


For me, creating is the proper warrior's stance.
And empathy the only valid sword.



Photo: ©2009 Mary deWit
"Prayer Wall" (detail)


To date, 28 separate groups (ranging from faith communities, nurses, social workers and Hospice volunteers) have chosen to collect the prayers that have been tucked in the niches of the Prayer Wall. These prayers then are released into a larger matrix of concern.

This is a spontaneous and organic outgrowth of a charged reality.

A charge that most likely
Whispers.