John Toomey

The Peace of Wild Things

Lisa — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:36:42 +0000

The National Endowment for the Humanities has named Wendell Berry – Kentucky poet, novelist, essayist, conservationist, farmer – as the 2012 Jefferson Lecturer. Berry will deliver the lecture, “It All Turns On Affection”, on April 23 in Washington. I was introduced to his work by artist and painting professor Robert Head at Murray State University, Kentucky. Bob had the wonderful habit of reading to his students. One day as class was ending he gifted me with a copy of Berry’s The Collected Poems, saying nothing but sticking his tongue out at me as he left. Thank you Wendell, thank you Bob.

On Site Study – Old Maple at Waterfall - Image © 2006 by Robert William Head

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

Listening With Heart, Composer Philip Glass Turns 75

Lisa — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:04:56 +0000

Lift —mixed media on paper and wood panel—5′ x 9’3″ x 2″

Happy Birthday to Philip Glass, I heard today on NPR Morning Edition that he is celebrating his 75th year on the planet. And many parts of the planet will celebrate his music today with festivals and performances. Here at my point I will once again turn up the Glass, and tip a glass, while at work in the studio. It’s only fitting, I was drawing at age 20 when I first heard his music, Glassworks, imposed upon the class by my instructor….thank you Dale Leys. The music of Philip Glass has ever since frequented my “music to work by” soundtrack. His music is often described as being minimalist, true no doubt, but I understand that he also describes himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures.” I do enjoy contemplating structure. And I really do have a particular fondness for repetitive structure.

Thank you Philip Glass.

Lift and Blow

Lisa — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:05:57 +0000

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Cloud Recordings

Lisa — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:32:32 +0000

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Of Soil and Sky

Lisa — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:02:40 +0000

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Working Memory

Lisa — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:19:55 +0000

“WORKING MEMORY” is a body of work in progress that contends with the ever so gradual loss of my mother as a result of Alzheimer’s disease. It is about a boy paying homage to his mother, remembering the gifts that she instilled within him, a deep love of nature and a purposeful connection to place. These paintings are mixed media works on paper – acrylic, pastel, watercolor – but I also collage organic material into the work, bits of pressed flowers and leaves and soil, some of which from my childhood home and some of which from my current home here in NM. Like all of my work these are also landscape based abstractions, but this body of work is much more site specific…home. I think of each painting as a garden, or even an area of sky, filled with fragments of clouds and flowers , grasses and soil. Forms are in flux, between growth and decay, blooming and fading, remembering and forgetting. Just like any garden, just like any life. I dedicate this work to my mom but also to all who have experienced loss as a result of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Elizabeth Lucille Archer, Mom photo—James Toomey

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