Makoto Fujimura<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This book. I’m not much of an artist. I like thinking about art, though, and it helps me with my teaching in all sorts of ways. And in trying to make music, to make photographs, to draw, to write, I’m a better person and teacher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The book opens with this quote: I have always considered art to be impossible. How can I create beauty, describe the wonderments of what I see, when my own heart is darkened, broken, and shattered? How can I create beauty in world full of violence and death? (8) <\/p>\n\n\n\n The making journey dwells in the gaps left behind by the prevalent false binaries of culture wars; oppositions of politics, race, and the “we versus them mentality; flashy celebrity creations of “influencers” that drive the market and define our culture today. (13) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace begins by beholding the fragments of what is broken. As I behold the fragments of trauma in our days, I also recognize that our path to create beauty today will require particular sacrifice and wisdom. Out of these moments in history flows a language of peace and care that we might learn from today, when brute dictatorial forces and powerful algorithms may not allow us to speak of these ideals in a straightforward fashion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We may yet become lovely by loving what we disdain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Childhood is the foundation for our art. Memories from our earliest days are the material from our journey into the light. Mark Rothko, in his ideal vision for his painting, stated: “It would be good if little places could be set up all over the country, like a little chapel where the traveler, or the wanderer could come for an hour to meditate on a single painting hung in a small room, and by itself.” (p.145)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cArt Is?: A Journey into the Light | WorldCat.Org.\u201d Accessed February 19, 2026. https:\/\/search.worldcat.org\/title\/1545123654<\/a>. Makoto Fujimura This book. I’m not much of an artist. I like thinking about art, though, and it helps me with my teaching in all sorts of ways. And in trying to make music, to make photographs, to draw, to write, I’m a better person and teacher. The book opens with this quote: To see … Continue reading Notes from “Art Is”<\/span>
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour<\/em>
— William Blake, Auguries of Innocence, 1803
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Memories have eyes that can see beyond the sea. Seeing through the eyes of the heart means cultivating an awareness for the gift of life, past and present. Such a gift, like the gifts of shiny creatures from the sea, can open our hearts toward that joy we once knew, and the sense of play that every moment can bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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