A bright fortress.THERE IS AN IMMENSE FREEDOM in peace. Because it needs no external support, it can take all risks that seem wise to it. Pia Stern's Seaside Residence II shows a structure (a "residence") on the very edge of the waves. They surge relentlessly toward it, almost, it seems, engulfing it; yet the structure stands. The unpredictability of the furrowed fur·row n. 1. A long, narrow, shallow trench made in the ground by a plow. 2. A rut, groove, or narrow depression: snow drifting in furrows. 3. water, swaying inexorably inward, does not substantially affect the "residence." It is a bright fortress, which apparently exists by other principles. If wild water is black-and-white, then the human home of the spirit is luminous with color, bright enough to reflect onto the incoming waves, though not to deflect them. Stern shows us two ways of being: the physical, answerable an·swer·a·ble adj. 1. Subject to being called to answer; accountable. See Synonyms at responsible. 2. That can be answered or refuted: an answerable charge. 3. only to accident, to wind and tide; and the spiritual, answerable to inward truth. One is free-flowing; the other is fixed, grounded in more than its own small compass--in God. By SISTER WENDY BECKETT Sister Wendy Beckett (born February 25 1930) is a South African-born British art expert, consecrated virgin and contemplative hermit who became an unlikely celebrity during the 1990s, presenting a series of acclaimed art history documentaries for the BBC. of Norfolk, England, well-known for her BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. and PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, television art series and her popular art books. Reprinted with permission from: Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations (DK Publishing, 1998; 888-342-5357). Painting: Seaside Residence II, 1994, Pia Stern, Private collection. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion