Each month,
L'Chaim hosts a blog carnival in which participants celebrate the varied forms of art and the ways it inspires our lives. The theme for Artuality in February is
furniture.
I am attracted to furniture because of the stories I imagine behind the pieces. How was it made? Where did the materials come from? Who made it? Was it a rugged cotton farmer making a primitive stool for his son to sit on and whittle by the fire after chores? Was it a highly-trained furniture maker tooling a cabriole legged chair with velvet upholstry and claw-and-ball feet for a wealthy British family? Did it sell for millions of dollars at Sotheby's last auction? Did a bunch of neighborhood kids find it in a chicken coop and heft it up to their tree house to store their treasures?
I just love to imagine who and where it came from... and who and where it's going to.
My mother owned a small antique shop when I was in junior high and there were few places I'd rather be on a weekend than milling around the antique mall while she worked, looking over strange and wonderful remnants of days gone by. My teenage-girl bedroom was outfitted in primitive antiques. I felt so comfortable there.
Here are my inspirational pieces of furniture for February:
About 3 years ago some neighbors of my parents were moving and trying to find homes for their unneeded furniture. Our family was the blessed recipient of a complete set- dining room table, 6 chairs, a sideboard and hutch, and a china cabinet.
Free furniture that is in gorgeous shape, with a beautiful finish, and is large enough for our family and several friends... and... did I mention it was completely free?
Sounds like grace.I thank my God for those kind neighbors every time I enjoy dinner with my family at this table, or see the kids fetching their crayons and Playdoh out of the sideboard, or dusting Granny's thimble collection in the china cabinet. Every time we add another leaf to the table to make ready for a feast with friends, I recall the grace that was bestowed on us in this gift.
We barely knew those neighbors of my parents. There certainly wasn't anything we'd done to deserve their dining room set.
Grace.
Doing schoolwork at the table of grace
"I think this card expresses the despair which often comes from decay. In this case decay seems to be a lack of connection. This lack of spiritual connection isn't fulfilled anywhere on this card. All windows are dark and empty and the figure refuses to see beyond the gray despair. I want her to see the blue film and look beyond it for the divine that is always there." - Melissa
wilderness wandering. God had parted the Red Sea, given them daily manna, kept their shoes from wearing out, given them daytime clouds so the desert wouldn’t fry them and nighttime fire so the desert wouldn’t freeze them. And then He finally brought them home to the land of their ancestors. So do you think they responded in worship and love? Of course not. They’d do okay for a little while and then blow it. Over and over. And over. Oops.
Get your book now for our Spring study through Java with the Judges.
"I wanted to draw a Barbie to represent the perfect, empty, false person I present to the world, but it was ironic. The Barbie that a friend lent me had slightly mussed hair, her leotard slightly off one shoulder and one knee duct-taped. I kind of forgave this Barbie because it seemed she'd been a bit battered by the world, like we all have." - Jodie
About 3 years ago some neighbors of my parents were moving and trying to find homes for their unneeded furniture. Our family was the blessed recipient of a complete set- dining room table, 6 chairs, a sideboard and hutch, and a china cabinet.
Doing schoolwork at the table of grace
"It honestly brings me to tears to see the beautiful thing that God makes out of what looks like just another layer of dust to me. I would sweep it away without blinking an eye but He writes love letters to me in it." - Beverly
I find an interesting juxtaposition of decay and divine in illuminated books of hours or pieces like this from one of Dante's early works. The ideas and the pictures that illuminate them raise us to new heights. We ponder lofty thoughts and look on works of art, all on the same page.
"I hope this card elicits some sense of reality. War seems distant and unreal until we face it's ultimate sacrifice - loss of life. We can try to justify it but the fact remains - a lot of people are going to die." - Melissa
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