Artandicon's Blog

  • The Hand Rewrites the Brain

    Aristotle once said, “The hand is the tool of tools.” Our hands with their opposable thumbs are an evolutionary miracle. Our opposable thumbs evolved around two million years ago, even before humans began to make tools. Our hands helped us to develop language and procure nourishment, as well as create mysterious images on cave walls…

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  • Music of the Spheres

    One of my favorite hymns growing up in the church was “This Is My Father’s World,” by Maltbie D. Babcock, a Presbyterian minister. Written in 1901, to the tune Terra Beata, or Blessed Earth, the song was originally a traditional English folk tune, but composer Franklin L. Sheppard arranged a variation specifically for this text.…

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  • Great American Eclipse Paintings

    After the Great American Eclipse, I’m reminded once again how great and wide is the love of our God. We say, “Our God,” as if we could own or possess the one who holds us, since God is beyond our knowing or possession. We can own a boat, a house, or a work of art.…

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  • Total Eclipse of the Heart

    In the Bonnie Tyler song, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” her rock and roll soul pines for a young man as she sings: “Every now and then I know there’s no one in the universe As magical and wondrous as you.” Love struck teen heart ballads tend to elevate the beloved to a high pedestal,…

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  • Eclipse T-Shirts

    Friday in art class we painted our own unique designs on t-shirts for Monday’s Total Eclipse of the Sun. Anticipation of an event is characteristic of young children, while adults often feel over saturated with the early build up of attention given to an important event. By the time it gets here, we go, “Wow,…

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  • Time Travel and Iconography Experiments

    Every once in a while, I like to go on journeys. Sometimes they’re actual trips, such as my recent vacation over spring break to visit family down in Texas, but other times I like to “time travel.” The best way to time travel today, since I don’t have access to a DeLorean, is to study…

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  • A Prayer to End All Suffering

    I don’t don’t know about you, but I don’t willingly sign up for pain or suffering. Pollen season isn’t my friend. I could do without all this yellow and green stuff clogging my brain cells and my lungs. As I cough and die, swill decongestant tonics, and huff my asthma inhaler, I wonder if this…

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  • Introducing Watercolor Painting

    Our art class has worked in acrylic paint for several years, but toward the end of last year, they expressed an interest in learning about watercolors. I said, “Sure, we’ll do that. It’ll build on the color theory you already know, but you’re going to have to learn to plan ahead and learn not to…

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  • What’s the Point of Suffering?

    I’ve visited the Holy Land twice, and I’m always surprised how small this country is. So much history and events of our faith happened here, yet the land isn’t much bigger than Vermont. This land is a place of great suffering, marked by the historic sites of Masada, Megiddo, and Golgotha. It’s also the place…

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  • Nativities Then and Now

    Every Christmas, my family would put up a beautiful tree and decorate it to the nines. My dad would always tie this living sculpture to the nearest window frame so the tree wouldn’t topple over. He was well aware at least one of his three curious and rambunctious children would no doubt be crawling under…

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