"Summeries #3."

TURN THE PAGE, PICK UP ANOTHER NOTEBOOK

“…This web of time—the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each other through the centuries—embraces every possibility. We do not exist in most of them. In some you exist and not I, while in others I do, and you do not, and yet in others both of us exist. In this one, in which chance has favored me, you have come to my gate. In another, you, crossing the garden, have found me dead. In yet another, I say these very same words but am in error, a phantom…Time is forever dividing itself toward innumerable futures…”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899 - 1986) Garden of Forking Paths, Ficciones.

Yeah, picture this: a father and son in a skanky hotel in bumfuck upstate New York. And the son says, he says,"I am the creator of this reality and you are a character that I have created to serve my needs (or something like that)." And you're all like, "What the fuck? I raised you and made all these concessions and recessions and what not, and you deny my existence?" And he's all like, "That's the reality you are creating." And in this picture, you are the father. And you stop. And you get beyond all the things that carve you into the soap figure of your expectations and you realize that the kid has something going on.
We make notations and choices and reservations and these are the scaffold that support our realities. Trust your notes and letters. Fold yourself into the realities of your kids and your cousins and your friends and loved ones as if you were the most delicate of souffles, trusting that the yolk is always. And in all ways: on you.

“Actualized Dreams” #4.

You made every attempt to explain to me that no instance was disconnected and attendant to itself - that before any one circumstance collapsed, it was already overlapping another related occurrence. I continued to plait my lanyard, even as I gave you the benefit of the doubt…….good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #5.

I once remember hearing you say that your imagination had been jogged and then we laughed so hard cause I thought you meant that your imagination had gone jogging, which made us laugh even harder, because that was exactly what you meant. I drew a sketch of an endless cycle while you went on about the pitfalls of giving. What did you call it? Oh yeah, cheap grace…….good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #6.

I had the good fortune to hear James Forbes speak. Well he didn't so much speak as he elaborated. He was talking, I mean elaborating on the diminished vitality of self and all these unrelenting assaults on well-being. What did Isaac say? That it was like a cultural low grade fever? But anyway, it reminded me of your obsession with nitrogen fixing nodules and our need to re/leaf - to actually attach our disconnected selves back to the Tree of Life…….good times.

All work by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

Please leave comments as you feel so inclined. Tom can be reached via the World Wide Web. tomschulzartist@gmail.com, tom@empathinc.com. Please join Empathinc. on facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/empathinc/475680795088

"Summeries #2"

AN INTERVIEW WITH TOM SCHULZ, ARTIST

“When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.”
Barbara Bloom

Artist Tom Schulz speaks at the dedication of

the Almetto Howey Alexander Labyrinth

"My Shadow"©2004

34"1/2 X 58"
Water media, gesso, varnish on paper, mounted on canvas
Read poem by clicking here.

THE INTERVIEW:

CQ: Tell us about when you first identified yourself as an artist.
TS: Interesting question. I can’t think of a time when I didn’t think of myself as an artist. Even back when I was a kid, the world fascinated me. The sun through the clouds, dust motes, the rainbow in each drop of dew. Even the pattern of what my Mother called her horrible age spots. It all was just so compelling and beautiful to me. I wanted to connect with that. Still do.
CQ: And can you describe how you made that connection?
TS: Oh, I collected things, and drew. I read a lot, and developed scenes in my head that fleshed out the words. And I spent a lot of time wandering about. We lived in a subdivision that used to be a plantation – I could literally graze my all the way to the river during the summer.
CQ: So in the painting, “My Shadow” – is the image of the boy a self-portrait?
TS: I think almost everything I do is a self-portrait on some level. Actually, I spend a lot of energy tracing back to those things that impacted me as a child. This is an appropriated image from an illustration by Jessie Wilcox Smith. It was in one of my favorite books – "A Child’s Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson. My Great Aunt Irma Hochstein gave it to me. She was one of the first people to encourage me as an artist. This particular image was illustrating the poem "My Shadow".
CQ: So why choose this for this painting?
TS: Yeah, well I’d come to the conclusion, after a lot of studying, that Stevenson had a world-view agenda and hid a lot of meaning in his children’s poems. There’s a phrase about the child’s shadow – “what can be the use of it is more than I can see.”
CQ: You literally painted those words along the bottom.
TS: Using the image of Polaroid’s, which was the way special moments were documented back in the day. Watching the image come forward. It was magic in my eyes.
CG: And the shadow?
TS: A reminder that our shadows are very important to us and have great use. Think of what Peter Pan had to go through to reclaim his.
CQ: And almost as an afterthought there seems to be another Polaroid image tacked on to the surface of the picture plane. We have included that as a detail. Can you speak to that?
TS: I make a lot of associations. And recognize patterns. Must be part of my wiring. The Abu Ghraib torture scandal had been all over the news – here again I was being inundated with images. And I felt like one person in particular. Lyndie England. I felt like she was held to support The Shadow side of the whole affair. So that was a type of sacrifice going on (on) a lot of levels. Something just clicked and I remembered the iconic image of the little naked Vietnamese girl running from a Napalm attack. And I linked them in a photograph type image to make sort of my own proof of the occurrences.
CQ: Is that Revisionist History?
TS: More like Connect the Dots.
CQ: And can you share with us how you see this painting relating to the text (editors note: in reference to "The Sacrifice of Isaac")?
TS: Well I have this Bible. I call it the Tommy Schulz bible cause it was given to me by my Grandmother in 1962, and that was the inscription. I’m amazed at how those illustrations stocked the shelves of my visual library and my sort of kid theology. Thought the story of Abraham was like the kind of Faith I should aspire to. Even named my son Isaac. But as I decided to develop a conscious adult Theology and intentional spiritual practices, I came to question my relationship to the story. Like I did with the Stevenson poems. So that thread runs through the whole fabric of my interests. I think of the process as an ideological death and resurrection. CQ: So do you consider yourself a maker of Religious Art?
TS: The same thing that motivated me as a kid? Still resonates. When I am at work, making things? I’m chatting it up with God. That doesn’t sound real religious to me. In the way that, you know, I think of capital “R” Religion. But I’ve embraced personal icons. So maybe it’s all the same.

All work by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

Please leave comments as you feel so inclined. Tom can be reached via the World Wide Web. tomschulzartist@gmail.com, tom@empathinc.com. Please join Empathinc. on facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/empathinc/475680795088

"Summeries" #1.

“People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.”

St. Augustine

I take notes. It's more than a habit, it's one of my spiritual practices. Little bits of information, inventions, observations, lists, and some more lists. Stream of consciousness sketching while conversing or listening. I heard that Jack Kerouac had a really long piece of paper that he put into his typewriter so that he wouldn't have to stop typing - wouldn't have to interrupt a thought stream (I might be wrong about that and probably could look it up. But then again - so could you. Feel free to get back to me on that). Well it's just like that except it's not, if you catch my meaning.

So I am going to present a series of "Summeries". Random cullings from years of sketch books, notebooks, scraps of paper. I'll include associated responses as I develop a story based on the story. What I find fascinating is that I have been rather consistent in chasing after that thing that I have yet to name. Maybe you can appreciate that. Maybe you have been on a similar quest.

Summer reading. Summeries.

“Actualized Dreams” #1.

When I finish building this, I will come and visit you. We will be able to act like we have all the time in the world: because we will. And more. We can talk until sunrise and never be missed in our other lives. Our other schedules…….good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #2.

At the close of each session, both guides would intentionally lose themselves among the ruins. After leading for so long, giving up control was exhilarating. That each one discretely left delicate blazes (simply as a matter of precaution) was a shared and open secret …….good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #3.

We visited the thin space: where our peripheries became osmotic, and we didn’t so much share things as we each exchanged things. One completeness for the other…….good times.

All work by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

Please leave comments as you feel so inclined. Tom can be reached via the World Wide Web. tomschulzartist@gmail.com, tom@empathinc.com. Please join Empathinc. on facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/empathinc/475680795088

"On Being Apparent"

“The universe is composed of subjects to be communed with, not objects to be exploited. Everything has its own voice. Thunder and lightning and stars and planets, flowers, birds, animals, trees—all these have voices, and they constitute a community of existence that is profoundly related.”
Thomas Berry

Theodor Adorno said that, "we only know ourselves by knowing our fractured selves." Or something like that. I could look it up. So could you. And yeah, I agree with the sentiment in that each fracture is like an emotional growth ring on a tree - signifying a break, a loss, a cut, an exchange. I realized this one day when I told a friend that I would never get a tattoo. She tenderly took my hands and studied the scars and the callouses and wrinkles and declared, "Darling, you've been giving yourself tattoos for years."

Mary Geitner, Ben Ford, Phoebe Ford, Willoree Ford

Lately, I've been giving more thought and directed attention to my integrated self (such as it is). I have always maintained you know, divisions in my life. As if I were a discount store with a variety of departments. This included my work, my real work, my work for money. My relaxed time, my stressed time, my no time, my time in a bottle. And my rolls and assignments? Rows 12 through like, a billion. Artist, father, husband, son, brother, friend. Builder, teacher, student. Story teller, bad joke teller, William Teller. The aisles were wide, for the most part. Uh-Oh. Clean up on aisle 57.

Robert Walker Geitner III, "Self Portrait with Micky"

But all those shelves (while particularly handy for storing all the accumulated bric-a-brac of an inquisitive life) end up being divisive, casting shadows on shadows and aspersions on rugs.

Isaac Schulz

And so I am in the process of becoming my synthetic self. Working out of and recognizing, that creativity is a series of overlapping interludes. To even attempt to understand how this might evolve would be to encapsulate the very activity of synthesizing into a tangible bauble of a thought. A synapse fossilized in amber. It might give me something to hold up to the light, but with most of the shelves gone, where would I store that thought? Besides, understanding is beginning to seem so very inadequate. What I am curious about is beyond understanding.

Tom Schulz using tools inappropriately in the Spidey-Hole.

Being a father is such a necessary and critical format of being for me. Being a father consistently requires that I upgrade my contract with Understanding. Being a father is not so much challenging to me it is a direct challenge to me. Especially now that the kids are grown up and spread far afield, especially as they create their own unique and complex realities, and especially as they deign to allow my reality to intersect with theirs in spiraling patterns of overlapping aspirations.

Sheila Ennis, Carrie Schulz, Jason Andersen

Sometimes, when I step beyond my clever self, I am able to access my innate wisdom. You know what I'm talking about. You do that. You might call it clarity. Or perhaps maturity. I just know that in those moments, understanding is not required because you. I. We. Are literally drowning in knowledge. Like that Peace that passeth all understanding thing. In these moments, I know that I called out to my kids and they responded. And they called out to me and I responded. Still do. And even when we aren't acknowledging it, my kids and I are calling out to you. And you are responding. And you are calling out to us and we are responding.
And that is so very powerful. And that type of power never, no never. Sits on no shelf.

Empathinc. was registered as a domain at 8:00 AM, September 11, 2001. It is an artist's ongoing investigation into how we occupy space, embody our own stories, and develop synthetic strategies of fair exchange. All artwork and writing by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

"The God and The Universe Conversations". Week Twenty Four.

"HOW YOUR STORY COMPLETES OUR STORY:
To Cynthia Underwood"

empathinc.: our story would be incomplete without your story.
Monday at 11:45pm · LikeUnlike ·
2 people like this.

Cynthia Underwood: One of these days I'm gonna look into your story.
Monday at 11:53pm · LikeUnlike

empathinc.: and you will see a reflection of yours, Cynthia.
Tuesday at 12:10am · LikeUnlike

Cynthia Underwood: More info please.
Tuesday at 12:13am · LikeUnlike

empathinc.: Ok. but I have to ponder a bit.
Tuesday at 12:16am · LikeUnlike

Cynthia Underwood: I'll be waiting.
Tuesday at 12:20am · Like

“The dimension of the divine opens forth from the human face.”
Emmanual Levinas, Totality and Infinity


"Humanomaly"© 2002
Watercolor on Paper
From the "Commanomaly© Series"

"For Levinas, coming face to face with the Other is a non-symmetrical relationship. I am responsible for the Other without knowing that the Other will reciprocate. Whether or not Others reciprocate is their affair not mine. Thus, according to Levinas, I am subject to the Other without knowing how it will come out. In this relationship, Levinas finds the meaning of being human and of being concerned with justice......I am intrigued with the simplicity of Levinas’ idea that in the human face is found the original ethical code. From a look into the face of the Other we become aware of basic human responsibility and meaning. Levinas is critical of a society in which people are depersonalized, in which they move around side by side rather than meet face to face. "
From: Face to Face by Elder Lindahl (read entire article hear)

"Investigative Reporter"© 2004
Watercolor on Paper
From the "My Nature Series"

Yeah, well all this face time is cool and all, but I'm talking about story here. We share our stories. That we feel more fulfilled in the writing of them is another concern. We speak. Our faces contort, our muscles strain. Air passes over our larynx and produces modulated sound. Sound that has some sort of codified meaning. Our face and our story are indivisible. As I recognize my responsibility in recognizing your face, so I recognize the profound impact (on my story) of your story. If this implies that I cannot kill you, please don't confine that to physicality. There are many ways to die. Many ways to kill. An essential conceptual murder is in silencing. Turning a deaf ear to your story. Thinking of responses even as you are sharing your dialogue. Listening is great. Taking in an Other's story is a gift to both parties. This gift (enacted) is the God and The Universe conversation.

Women In Art from Philip Scott Johnson on Vimeo.

“Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect

when we meet them face to face."

Nelson DeMille

This concludes Week Twenty Four of

"The God and The Universe Conversations".

All art and writing by Tom Schulz unless otherwise noted, or unless it is so cool
he will try to get away with claiming it as his own."The God and The Universe Conversations" are based on Tom's protracted reading of Process and Reality, by Alfred North Whitehead.

"The God and The Universe Conversations". Week Twenty Three.

"The Sacrifice of Isaac"

CONCLUSION


Ideas are more powerful than guns.
We would not let our enemies have guns,
why should we let them have ideas?
Joseph Stalin




"There is the Would"© 2004
Watercolor and Gesso on Paper

and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, ¹⁸and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.’
Genesis 22, The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989

"Know We Have Them on the Run"© 2004
Watercolor and Gesso on Paper

From the Editor: So here we are. Our Hero has passed the test. The dogs have been called off, and now it is time for the bestowing of the treasure. Because isn't that what sacrifice is about? You exhibit your willingness to give up something.....let's even say something big. And in return? A little acknowledgement would be nice. But Abraham gets that and wins the bonus round! He will be the beginning of an entire peoples. Constellations and galaxies of beings. And that which might deny him access? The gates of his enemies? The gates of his enemies will not prevail, and he will be blessed because he obeyed without question.

Well, today (in this moment), I am going to accept Abraham's blessing. I am going to have as many creative ideas as there are stars and I am going to share them with God. I am going to be involved in as many positive interactions as there are grains of sand at the beach and God will think that is cool. I am going to recognize the impediments to being my authentic self and saunter through those gates that I have constructed. I will listen to the words of Lao Tzu, "Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself." And the results of my involvement will continue to fascinate and encourage me, for I would have participated fully.

I will draw nearer. That's my plan.

"Sshoe Violins"© 2004
Watercolor and Gesso on Paper

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.



This concludes Week Twenty Three of

"The God and The Universe Conversations".

All art and writing by Tom Schulz unless otherwise noted, or unless it is so cool
he will try to get away with claiming it as his own."The God and The Universe Conversations" are based on Tom's protracted reading of Process and Reality, by Alfred North Whitehead.

The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to
sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Charles Du Bos

Movie Night at the Educational Center: "The Secret Life of Bees"

"The truth is, in order to heal we need to tell our stories and have them witnessed...The story itself becomes a vessel that holds us up, that sustains, that allows us to order our jumbled experiences into meaning."

Sue Monk Kidd
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine

"The Secret Life of Bees: Reflections in a Cultural Mirror"

A Review by Tom Schulz

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Abraham Lincoln

If The Secret Life of Bees is a story about making honey, then Huckleberry Finn is a guidebook to the Mississippi River. No, this is an epic tale of awakening and discovery. Of transformation and stultification. And love. Love that supports no single meaning as it shifts and morphs and takes root all of a once. This is a movie populated by diverse and complex characters, where the very character and unwritten laws of the United States of America plays a pivotal (and un-credited) role. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood in 2008, The Secret Life of Bees is based on the 2002 historical novel and New York Times bestseller by Sue Monk Kidd. It is a thoughtful adaptation of the novel: clear in its visual vernacular of the year 1964. The film’s use of color captures both the fecund density and lyrical luminescence of the Southern light. Prince-Blythwood allows us to understand that if light is both wave and particle, it is equally capable of harboring shadow as well as illumination.

Lily Owens (portrayed by a precocious and convincing Dakota Fanning) is haunted. Her burden is summarized in an opening voiceover when she says, "I killed my mother when I was four years old, that's what I knew about myself. She was all I wanted and I took her away. Nothing else much mattered." Constantly terrorized and belittled by her father T-Ray (a relentlessly ferocious Paul Bettany), Lily finds solace and validation in the company of the housekeeper, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson). Under the auspices of getting Lilly fitted for a training bra (a rite of passage indicating Lilly’s evolving transformation into maturity, and a subterfuge that would, of course exclude T-Ray), Rosaleen and Lily trek to town. Rosaleen’s intention is to register to vote, and she is accosted by a pack of feral rednecks. Under duress, Rosaleen sheds her cultural cloak of invisibility and stands for her human rights. Her reward is a severe beating. She is hospitalized for her “safety”. Lily is concerned that Rosaleen will be killed. A legitimate concern, given her understanding of male violence, and knowing – somehow – that there was no Atticus Finch to protect her Tom Robinson. Acting with more teenage passion than plan, she and Rosaleen escape their assumed fate and begin their search for sanctuary. Lily has instinctive reason to believe the grail of safety and discovery abides in Tiburon, South Carolina.

In Tiburon, Lily and Rosaleen find the Boatwright sisters – August, May, and June (played respectfully by Queen Latifah, Sophie Okenedo, and Alicia Keys). Each sister possesses a special access to the world. August is the matriarch, and decides to take in the fugitives. Rosaleen soon recognizes that, “They got they’re own special place, where the outside don’t come in.”
As the name Boatwright indicates, the three sisters construct a storm-worthy vessel of protection and love that affords Lily and Rosaleen the necessary craft to navigate towards self-actualization.

If my math is correct, the author Sue Monk Kidd was fourteen in 1964. Old enough to recognize the injustices that languished on small town street corners of the day and practiced their ill begotten sorcery of the night. And though the strength of love can provide strength in community, even Lily was aware that at any moment one could bring “the Outside in Here.”
During Lyndon B. Johnson’s term as John F. Kennedy’s Vice- President, racism became an increasingly important political issue. Vice- President Johnson expressed his understanding that something had to be done when he said, "The Negro fought in the war, and….he’s not gonna keep taking the shit we’re dishing out. We’re in a race with time. If we don’t act, we’re gonna have blood in the streets." As President, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a bill that changed the face of America. It opened all public accommodations to all Americans regardless of race, color, religion or national origin. A Texan, Johnson was criticized for using the issue of race and rights for political gain. But Johnson himself claimed to be an idealist who dreamed of making America a "Great Society". Earlier in his career he stated that, "This country won’t have to worry about isms [communism and fascism] when it gives its people a decent, clean place to live and a job.”

Even as The Secret Life of Bees presents a riveting and compelling narrative of a time passed, it forces the viewer to consider the current state of this Country’s malaise. It brings forth the critical question and asks, “What is reflected in the mirror of this particular History, and how shall we respond to what we see?”

"It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter

what sort of heartbreak is happening."

Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Movie Night, 6:30 PM, May 20th at The Educational Center

http://educationalcenter.org/