Stone Valley Arts at Fox Hill
on BLACK LIVES MATTER!
We continue to mourn the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the many other innocent Black lives that have been taken by shameful racial violence. Following recent events, including the inspiring wave of activism across the United States and around the world, it has been all the more disturbing to see police violence against peaceful protestors exercising their right to speak out for racial justice. The growing trend for a paramilitary police response to these protests has been brutal and further shows the need for radical reform.
Realizing that we are neither a very racially diverse state nor organization, we are all the more committed to becoming better allies. While it is easy to blame others, we have a moral obligation first to examine ourselves in order to address our own biases and take the necessary steps.
In these trying times, it is our profound belief that art can be an answer. Creativity is a means by which we seek to reveal truths and express individual and collective experience in order to shape and heal humanity. While it may be tempting to lament our limited resources in reaching such a goal, to do so would not acknowledge a black community that has been fighting this struggle with limited resources for its entire existence. As so many people still suffer inhumane and unjust treatment, Americans must realize the moral responsibility we all owe to each other and to society at large.
Therefore, we invite our community to share their creative projects that support the current movement for equality in the United States. Please send us art, poetry, and writing that expresses your observation and experience of this pivotal moment in American history, so that we may post it on our website. Please contact us at: stonevalleyartscenter@gmail.com
The image above is by Richard Weis in response to Black Lives Matter.
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Read before the beginning the June 10, 2020 Vermont House sessions last week by Robin Chesnut-Tangerman.
Inspiration
Each of us is here because we are inspired to serve. Our inspiration comes from different sources. For some it is an obligation to give back, for others an opportunity to fix things gone wrong or to chart a new course for Vermont that will be more fair and equitable.
But for all of us, I think it is fair to say that our inspiration is something larger than ourselves; a gift perhaps, or a calling. Something spiritual even.
Moving from the spiritual to the mundane, dictionary.com defines inspiration as “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” They also note the spiritual dimension - as in divine inspiration.
But the fundamental meaning of the Latin root word is simply to breathe in. To breathe in. In-spire.
To breathe in oxygen - and with it to breathe in ideas and stimulation and motivation and determination and creativity and devotion. And divine grace.
And all of this is lost when I Can’t Breathe.
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D. Ciobanu, Pieces of Me, acrylic on nine small canvases
Pieces of Me (Us)
I am one, I am all.
We are one
You, us, all sisters and brothers,
Have the same DNA
We are the same molecules
Same particles of the universe
Same breeze, same color, same smell.
DNA is never wrong
You cannot change it, you cannot color it, you cannot dilute it
We are one.
Three million years of us, all in one, all apart
I am all, I am one.
My crying splits us
My DNA cries.
Dedicated to all human (R)evolutionary movements.
California, 2013. Vermont, 2020.
D. Ciobanu
Pieces of Me (Us)
I am one, I am all.
We are one
You, us, all sisters and brothers,
Have the same DNA
We are the same molecules
Same particles of the universe
Same breeze, same color, same smell.
DNA is never wrong
You cannot change it, you cannot color it, you cannot dilute it
We are one.
Three million years of us, all in one, all apart
I am all, I am one.
My crying splits us
My DNA cries.
Dedicated to all human (R)evolutionary movements.
California, 2013. Vermont, 2020.
D. Ciobanu