Martin Luther King, Jr. – I Have A Dream Speech Anniversary

(oil on canvas)

On the 50th anniversary of the Martin Luther King, JR. speech, I listened to a recording from Youtube  while reading the National Archives transcript.  It was the first time I listened to the speech in its entirety.  I was struck by the weight of the context and equally by the beauty of his words such as:

Lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity … the fierce urgency of now … sunlit path of racial justice … soul force over physical force … veterans of creative suffering … the content of their character … every valley shall be exulted, every hill and mountain will be made low. 

From these words I was motivated to paint.

The Circle



(water color and ink on paper)

Some say that life

Is a connection of dots

First one then another

Creating straight angles.

I think an alternate shade,

Where each moment

Rests upon a curve,

A collection of arcs.

Circles, wheels, globes.

The initial blends with

Each finale.

In time the sight

Reveals the truth

Not from without,

To see it is the center.

Sit and run 

Live and turn, 

We fall apart then

Fall within the circle.

An inspiration when creating a card for Rob Arkes, his birthday and passionate cyclist.  Sitting down with a blank piece of paper, I saw a collection of bicycle wheels that soon evolved into a collaboration of circles.  After the paint and ink were dry the mental imagery of “showing up each day” and the “arcs of each moment” spilled out, which lead to the poem.  How we struggle to live a life laden with linear language (the straight and narrow … toe the line … make a bee line) perpetuating conformity to social norms or that success requires speed and a singular straight approach.  I know that circles include lines, yet they curve and lack terminal points (beginning or ending).  They also have a space within and a center, which feels like growth of self.  So, inspired by a bicycle wheel  the creation evolved to a metaphor for living (besides, I doubt many bees ever fly  in a straight line).