Thought for the Day

What's invaluable in love is to help

each other reach the end of a long road.

~ Ha Jin

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Quoted from Ha Jin, "Surprise" in A Distant Center (Copper Canyon Press, 2018)

Ha Jin, Chinese-American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Poet, and Essayist

Ha Jin Profiles at Boston University, Penguin Random House, and Poetry Foundation

Art for Advent, Fourth Sunday

For this, the fourth Sunday of Advent, art historian Dr. James Romaine concludes his YouTube series Seeing Art History with a discussion of the tondo (circular) Adoration of the Magi (c. 1440-1460), begun by Fra Angelico but painted primarily by Fra Filippo Lippi. Found in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the painting may have belonged to the Florentine Lorenzo de' Medici. A  detailed essay about the work is found on the NGA's Website.

Thought for the Day

Roots define the future of the tree.

~ Joshua Choonmin Kang

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Quoted from Joshua Choonmin Kang, Spirituality of Gratitude: The Unexpected Blessing (IVP Books, 2015), page 10

Joshua Choonmin Kang, Founding Pastor, New Life Vision Church (Koreatown, Los Angeles); Author; Speaker

New Artist Watch Feature at Escape Into Life

Elise Ritter, Vienna Rose, 2018

Acrylics and Collage

© Elise Ritter

PLEASE DO NOT COPY IMAGE

December's Artist Watch at the international online arts magazine Escape Into Life brings you the light-filled artworks of award-winning painter Elise Ritter, a resident of Arlington, Virginia.

Formerly a journalist and clinical social worker who turned to painting beginning in 2003, Elise has received numerous awards for her work, which has been published in a range of books and magazines here and abroad. She is a juried member of the local Arlington Artists Alliance and regional Potomac Valley Watercolorists. For inspiration, she draws on the beauty she finds in the stained glass windows of cathedrals, religious icons, and the gold-accented Symbolist art of Vienna, Austria.

For today's Artist Watch, Elise has shared images of her beautiful, spiritually themed paintings, her Artist Statement, and a biographical profile that includes links to her Website and galleries where her work has been exhibited or can be purchased.

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Note: The image above is from Elise's "Vienna Gold: Inspired by Klimt", a group exhibition she organized, which opens January 27, 2019, in the Great Hall of National United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. In addition to Elise's work, the show features art by Jackie Afram, Elizabeth Hudgins, Kat Jamieson, Linda Maldonado, Anna Schalk, and Deborah Taylor.

Art for Advent, Third Sunday

As part of his YouTube series Seeing Art History, art historian Dr. James Romaine presents on this, the third Sunday of Advent, commentary about Rembrandt van Rijn's  etching The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds (1634), which is in the Rosenwald Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Thought for the Day

Activism is what love looks like in public.

~ John Grauwiler

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Quoted from "Response to 'All the Dead Boys Look Like Me'" [by Christopher Soto] in Bullets Into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence (Ed. by Brian Clements, Alexandra Teague, and Dean Rader), Beacon Press, 2017; page 155

John Grauwiler, Cofounder, Gays Against Guns; Activist

Art for Advent, Second Sunday

For the second Sunday of Advent, art historian Dr. James Romaine discusses Jan van Eyck's exquisite painting titled The Annunciation (c. 1434-1436) for his YouTube series Seeing Art History. Part of the Andrew Mellon Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,  the early Netherlandish painting is thought to have been part of a triptych, a larger, three-part altarpiece. As Romaine points out, it is both visually stunning and replete with religious symbolism.

Thought for the Day

What sort of sorrow will, when gathered up, become a force

depends on your love.

~ Duo Yu

Trans. by Steve Riep

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Quoted from "Gathering Up",  Push Open the Window: Contemporary Poetry from China (Ed. Qingping Wang), Copper Canyon Press, 2011; page 267

Duo Yu, Chinese Scholar, Poet, Writer; Editor, Poem Time

Art for Advent, First Sunday

For this first Sunday of Advent, the channel Seeing Art History on YouTube presents Quaker preacher and artist Edward Hicks's The Peaceable Kingdom. Victoria Emily Jones, who writes the blog Art & Theology, narrates. This year, art historian James Romaine concentrates on art of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Edward Hicks, 1780-1849

Additional Commentary on The Peaceable Kingdom by Victoria Emily Jones

Thought for the Day

Poverty is black ice. . .

~ Naomi Ayala

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Quoted from Naomi Ayala, "Poverty" at Beltway Poetry Quarterly

Naomi Ayala, Poet, Educator, Arts Administrator, Community Activist