Seeking the Sublime in the Everyday

Last Friday started out as a great day because I was on my way to meet Jessie at the Met. The MTA made it all the better with some beautiful mosaics in the passageway from the E train at 53rd Street to the   6 train at 51st Street. Take a look; first, this wonderful yellow-- worm? snake? rope? I made a video but my tech skills aren't sufficient to share it with you.  I can't find the names of these artists--I'll go back there and search for  more information.  Then this mural of wonderful hoops and constructions.   Thank you, MTA for brightening my day, for recognizing that color and beauty make everything better.   This reminds me of an old memory.  When I taught at Trinity people had to walk through the art studio  to get from their classrooms to the library, and frequently, when they entered our space they would whistle or sing.  This happened all the time!  Students, teenagers and middle-schoolers, teachers, everybody! I asked my boss and studio mate, John Dooley, "

 I was invited to submit a piece for a show about the Desert, for  El Museo del Desierto (MUDE),   a nationally iconic museum that preserves the natural heritage of Mexico's desert.  My first response was, No deserts for me--I'm a Northern Easterner through and through.  I love pine trees, the ocean, waves, the beach, WATER,  but haven't I made a commitment to say yes to opportunity?  So I thought about the desert.  I've made several visits to Arizona and, while my favorite town was Flagstaff, because they have pine trees, there's a lot to be said for the dryer regions. I've driven across the United States five times; from Vermont to San Francisco  and back with a high school pal when I was 21, home from a summer in LA with Arthur and the kids when they were 7 and 10,  from NYC to Colorado with Arthur and home with Jessie when she was 16. and if you haven't done it, I suggest you get in your car and go.  This is an awesome country and you have to see it to g

 Or the Palace of ART. Here's the story of a collage I had no intention of making. Audrey Webber, Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church has come up with a terrific idea--Visual Art Bible Study.  Yesterday I was feeling oppressed by the number of meetings I've put on my calendar, wondering how to make more time for making art, but Audrey asked me to show up and so I did. She showed us some work by Gerhard Richter, to whom I've never paid much attention.  This included a short video of him spreading paint on a big canvas with a squeegee. He also designed stained glass windows for a church in Germany, even though he declares himself an agnostic. Then Audrey asked us to think about how we visualize God; that's an interesting discussion for one who thinks in pictures.  My first thought is always Michelangelo's image. Here's a version by a second-grader who said, "God is the only one who has clothes." Then we read together a Bible verse, John 17:20.

 Last week I declared my intentions as an artist  and the universe, in the persons of some of my lovely friends, is answering back. Bonnie Ford Woit wrote back; this painting is hers. Budding, Looking Up 54"x54" This what she wrote to me; Barbara, Keep working! I am now 90 years old, painting for at least 65 years. The advice I got from  other artists  when younger and frustrated by the gallery system was simply--  keep working, It is the doing as a way of life that we crave anyway!  Bonnie And Molly Heron New Beginnings  by © Molly Heron Prints available upon request.  Contact  molly@mollyheron.com "Happy new year  From your mouth/writing to the universe’s ears. May it be so.  As one person said,  Other fools have done it. So can I.  Not that you’re a fool I’m putting a similar intention into the universe. May I sell my paintings and photographs, have several galleries that I love working with who sell my work widely and that my work continues to open up doors of percep